Attorney Explains How Mifepristone Could Still Be Under Threat After SCOTUS Ruling

6 months ago

On "Forbes Newsroom," attorney Jeff Lewis broke down the 9-0 Supreme Court decision on mifepristone sales.

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Transcript

00:00Now, the court rejected the case, the challenge to Miffy Pristone, on standing.

00:06But what does this mean for other states that might want to issue their own challenges?

00:12Are there laws or are there cases on the books where we could see this issue come up again

00:16and again and again?

00:17Well, I will say there is one still pending Supreme Court case on the issue of abortion

00:25between federal law and Idaho law on the question of stabilizing a patient who presents themselves

00:31at a hospital.

00:32So that decision is going to be coming in the next few weeks.

00:35And in terms of this specific issue and the abortion pill, you could see a group of physicians

00:40filing a new lawsuit against this pill following the directive of today's opinion.

00:45Today's opinion said you didn't have declarations from doctors that said A, B, or C.

00:50You should have had those kinds of declarations suggesting how these doctors would be impacted

00:55by the use of this medication, how a patient could present themselves at an ER, and how

01:00a doctor could have to treat somebody for something that is against their religious

01:04beliefs.

01:05That wasn't present in today's lawsuit, but you can bet in the next one that lawyers will

01:08pay attention and follow the dictates of today's opinion.

01:12I was just about to ask, was that providing instructions for the next round of litigation?

01:17It was a roadmap.

01:18It was a clear roadmap of assuming this majority stays the majority of what the Supreme Court

01:23would look for to give standing and recognize a challenge on this basis.

01:28So Jeff, what I'm hearing is despite today's unanimous decision regarding Miffy-Pristone,

01:34the matter of Miffy-Pristone access is not quite settled.

01:40Absolutely not.

01:41The people who are on the side of reproductive rights can breathe a sigh of relief that temporarily

01:46for a few months or perhaps a year or more.

01:48The Supreme Court is not going to do anything to block access to this abortion medication,

01:52but this challenge will come back to the Supreme Court eventually.

01:57What else should we expect from this Supreme Court when it comes to abortion access?

02:01Are you watching anything else here?

02:03Well, I'm looking out for that later decision involving the Idaho law and the federal law

02:08in terms of the conflict between a physician's duty to stabilize a patient when they come

02:13into an ER and Idaho's law criminalizing people who perform abortions.

02:18There is that conflict.

02:19I'll be interested to see how the federal, the Supreme Court resolves that.

02:23And in addition to that, I would look for more cases like this to be filed specifically

02:27in Texas where they have friendly judges to this kind of case, following the dictates

02:32of today's decision and putting down a more specific causation of how this pill and this

02:40medication impacts doctors who are plaintiffs in this case.

02:45Any other final words for us on this very important matter?

02:49No, I would just say that today the Supreme Court really did nothing.

02:53It's the status quo and a decision will be made another day on the merits of whether

02:58or not this abortion pill will continue to be accessible.

Attorney Explains How Mifepristone Could Still Be Under Threat After SCOTUS Ruling

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