Abortion drug mifepristone will remain widely accessible after U.S. Supreme Court ruling
Global News
The justices ruled that abortion opponents lacked the legal right to sue over the federal FDA's approval of the medication, mifepristone, and subsequent actions to ease access.
The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously preserved access to a medication that was used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. last year, in the court’s first abortion decision since conservative justices overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.
The justices ruled that abortion opponents lacked the legal right to sue over the federal Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the medication, mifepristone, and the FDA’s subsequent actions to ease access to it.
The case had threatened to restrict access to mifepristone across the country, including in states where abortion remains legal.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the court that “federal courts are the wrong forum for addressing the plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA’s actions.” Kavanaugh was part of the majority to overturn Roe.
The high court is separately considering another abortion case, about whether a federal law on emergency treatment at hospitals overrides state abortion bans in rare emergency cases in which a pregnant patient’s health is at serious risk.
More than 6 million people have used mifepristone since 2000. Mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone and primes the uterus to respond to the contraction-causing effect of a second drug, misoprostol. The two-drug regimen has been used to end a pregnancy through 10 weeks gestation.
Health care providers have said that if mifepristone is no longer available or is too hard to obtain, they would switch to using only misoprostol, which is somewhat less effective in ending pregnancies.
President Joe Biden’s administration and drug manufacturers had warned that siding with abortion opponents in this case could undermine the FDA’s drug approval process beyond the abortion context by inviting judges to second-guess the agency’s scientific judgments. The Democratic administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, which makes mifepristone, argued that the drug is among the safest the FDA has ever approved.
Bird flu has spread far and wide, infecting a range of species like chickens, skunks, cows, foxes and polar bears. But it's the pigs that have experts on high alert.
The CFIA has recalled E. coli-tainted carrots, following a U.S. health warning about the contaminated produce linked to one death and dozens of illnesses.
Health Canada said there was an issue with the braking system of the Stokke YOYO baby stroller, sold between August and October this year.
These editorial stories and interviews will focus on the people, companies, research, and innovations leading the environmental and sustainable movement in B.C.
Bennett had just returned from the school run last week when she found the mom and a baby raccoon unconscious, with one of the babies sleeping on the furniture.
B.C. health authorities have announced the first case of a human avian flu infection acquired in Canada, with the teenage patient in critical condition in hospital.
People have been hearing a lot about H5N1 bird flu — or highly pathogenic avian influenza — since a B.C. teen became the first human to get the virus in Canada and is in hospital.
The Liberal government and the NDP negotiated the substance of a pharmacare bill as part of their now-defunct supply-and-confidence agreement.
Kennedy ran as an independent presidential candidate but gave Trump his endorsement with a promise to have a role in health policy in the next Trump administration.
Emergency services are at the scene of a train derailment Thursday morning on Montreal's south shore, where they are urging citizens to stay away from the area.
"I was yelling at them saying get the F** away it’s a wild animal," resident Josh Merrin told Global News. "Sorry about my language."