Washington (AFP) - Mifepristone, a drug widely used in the United States to induce abortion in women pregnant for 10 weeks or less, has become a target of the country's anti-abortion movement.
On Friday the US Supreme Court temporarily preserved broad access to the medication, freezing restrictions imposed on the drug by an appeals court, which had ruled in favor of a group challenging the decades-old authorization of mifepristone by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Here it is a timeline of drug's history and the recent US legal fight likely to end up in the Supreme Court:
Development and distribution
- 1980: Mifepristone is developed by French researchers, initially dubbed RU-486 based on its chemical compound.
- 1988: Mifepristone is approved for medical abortions in France, and is adopted in other countries in the years following.
- 2000: The FDA rules mifepristone safe for use in the United States to terminate pregnancies up to seven weeks gestation. It can only be dispensed to users directly at clinics, doctor's offices and hospitals.
- 2016: The FDA says mifepristone can be prescribed for pregnancies up to 10 weeks gestation.
- 2020-21: The FDA halts enforcement of the in-person dispensing requirements due to the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing mifepristone to be mailed to patients after telemedicine consultations.
Roe v. Wade overturned
- June 24, 2022: The Supreme Court overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed women's abortion rights nationwide. The ruling permits individual states to set their own rules, and about half of the 50 states either ban or tightly restrict the procedure. Mifepristone quickly becomes a new target for anti-abortion activists.
- January 3, 2023: The FDA rules that the drug can be distributed to users by certified pharmacies, including by mail.
- April 7, 2023: A federal judge in Texas places a nationwide ban, to begin after a week-long delay, on distribution of mifepristone while he hears a lawsuit by anti-abortion activists challenging the FDA's 2000 approval of the drug.
- April 12, 2023: A federal appeals court partially overturns the Texas judge's action, saying that it was far too late for plaintiffs to challenge the FDA's 2000 approval of the drug. But the appeals court accepts the judge's block on the 2016 FDA decision to expand mifepristone use up to 10 weeks gestation, and its decision to allow distribution by mail.
- April 13, 2023: The US Justice Department under Democratic President Joe Biden announces it will file an emergency request to the Supreme Court seeking a reversal of the appeals court's decision placing new restrictions on mifepristone.
- April 21, 2023: The US Supreme Court rules in favor of temporarily preserving broad access to mifepristone, freezing restrictions imposed on the drug by an appeals court. Two conservative justices dissented with the decision.
