People protest in response to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24, 2022, in Washington, D.C. The court’s decision in Dobbs overturned Roe v. Wade, erasing a federal right to an abortion (Brandon Bell/Getty Images).
WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has temporarily halted any changes in access to the abortion medication mifepristone from taking effect until Wednesday at midnight.
The one-page order from Alito, issued late Friday afternoon, will block for now the April 7 ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas that suspended the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2000 approval of mifepristone.
That was set to take effect Friday at midnight. However, in 17 states and the District of Columbia, the Texas ruling was in conflict with a separate ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, where a judge ruled that the FDA couldn’t change access to mifepristone.
Alito wrote in the order that “any response to the application be filed on or before Tuesday, April 18, 2023, by 12 p.m.”
The Department of Justice and Danco Laboratories, the manufacturer of the abortion pill, have appealed rulings on the pill to the Supreme Court on an emergency basis.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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