Master in Food Ethics and Law

UNESCO Chair in Bioethics

Contact

  • Bioethics and Law Observatory
  • UNESCO Chair in Bioethics
  • University of Barcelona
  • Faculty of Law
  • Ave. Diagonal, 684
  • 08034 Barcelona
  • (+34) 93 403 45 46
  • obd.ub@ub.edu
  •  
  • Master in Bioethics and Law
  • (+34) 93 403 45 46
  • master.bd@ub.edu

 

"The Supreme Court’s Abortion Exceptionalism — Judicial Deference, Medical Science, and Mifepristone Access"

The New England Journal of Medicine

On April 12, 2021, the Food and Drug Admin-istration (FDA) temporarily lifted its decades-long restriction on access to medication abortion, which accounts for two in five abortions in the United States.1 The agency’s action  nullifies  a  Supreme  Court  order, 3 months earlier in Food and Drug  Administration  v.  American  Col-lege  of  Obstetricians  and  Gynecologists(FDA  v.  ACOG),  requiring  that  pa-tients prescribed the abortion pill mifepristone pick it up in person, even  during  the  pandemic.  Al-though the direct ruling in FDA v. ACOG  is  now  moot,  we  believe  that  its  stealth  logic  still  has  troubling   implications   beyond   medical  care  and  public  health.