The Supreme Court, on Thursday, unanimously upheld access to a widely available abortion pill, rejecting a challenge from anti-abortion groups. 

The ruling came after the changes put in place by FDA in 2016 and 2021, broadening the distribution of the pill by easing patients’ ability to receive it through telemedicine and mail. 

In a unanimous decision written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court held that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the FDA’s action. 

“Those who object to what a law allows others to do can always seek greater regulatory or legislative restrictions on certain activities,” Mr Kavanaugh wrote. 

However, the decision did not rule out the possibility that other plaintiffs, notably states, may be able to pursue challenges to the availability of mifepristone, a medication used in a majority of abortions in the country.

Recall that an umbrella group of anti-abortion medical organisations, along with several doctors, challenged the FDA’s longstanding approval of mifepristone. 

In 2022, they filed a lawsuit in Amarillo, Texas, a city in the Panhandle where a single federal judge, Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, hears all new civil cases.

The groups cited five studies, including two that were later retracted, that questioned the safety of mifepristone, which was approved by the FDA more than two decades ago. 

Their claim contradicted a large scientific record on the safety of mifepristone and another abortion medication, misoprostol.