US Supreme Court allows FDA's abortion pill to remain on market as Women's March Cleveland, Cuyahoga Democratic Women's Caucus, activists, prepare for a June 24, 5:30 pm Cleveland City Hall steps rally for women's rights....By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

Women's March Cleveland at one of its reproductive rights marches in Cleveland that drew thousands of protesters to the streets of Cleveland. Photo by Cleveland Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com Photojournalist David Petkiewicz ) (2nd from lt is Women's March Cleveland head organizer Kathy Wray Coleman, a Black Cleveland activist and organizer)

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

Staff article

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that mifepristone can remain on the market in a case that reached the country's highest court that could have ended the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) issuance of the nation's most widely used abortion bill, the most common form of abortion.

It comes after the U.S. Senate, just over a week ago, shot down a bill that would have provided contraceptive protections for women. And it is the first major ruling on reproductive rights for women since the high court, on June 24, 2022, reversed Roe v Wade, its landmark 1973 decision that afforded federal protection for women seeking access to abortion. That 6-3 reversal two years ago in Dobbs vs Mississippi Health Organization stripped women of abortion protections and gave respective state legislatures authority to regulate abortion, including in Ohio, which had a now defunct six-week abortion ban pushed by Republican state lawmakers and dubbed the Heartbeat Bill.

"Under Article III of the Constitution, a plaintiff's desire to make a drug less available for others does not establish standing to sue. Nor do the plaintiffs' other standing theories suffice," Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a former President Donald Trump appointee who was among the majority of the justices who overturned Roe in 2022, wrote for the court regarding today's historic decision. "Therefore, the plaintiffs lack standing to challenge FDA's actions."

Primarily at issue before the court, at least before the standing issue took center stage, was whether the FDA's two-decades long approval of the pill is safe with justices seemingly skeptical of such assertion during oral arguments earlier this year. And whether the justices can step in for federal agencies to determine the safety of the pill was at issue too, lawyers for proponents of the pill argued to the nine-member , 6-3 conservative-leaning court composed of three former President Donald Trump appointees.

But the justices, instead, found that the group of anti-abortion doctors who brought the lawsuit lacked legal standing to bring the claim, with the plaintiffs represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom arguing that the FDA failed to adequately evaluate the drug’s alleged safety risks.

The case was being watched nationwide, particularly by women's rights activists in key states, including Ohio, a state that Trump won in 2016 and again in 2020 when he was ousted from office by current President Joe Biden. 

Justices made it clear via Thursday's ruling that a plaintiff or plaintiffs with standing could very well bring a similar case in due time, raising concerns for women's rights groups. 

Abortion rights groups in Ohio where voters enshrined the legal right to abortion and other reproductive measures into the Ohio Constitution via the passage of an Issue 1 referendum at the ballot box in November say they are fed up with politicians, mainly White men, undermining women and intend to further voice their displeasure at the ballot box this November.

"We are pleased with the lack of standing ruling by our nation's highest court and that the court unanimously rejected the frivolous challenge against the abortion pill, and rest assured that women in Ohio will voice our concerns at the ballot box in November," said Women's March Cleveland head organizer Kathy Wray Coleman, a seasoned Black Cleveland activist, organizer and local digital journalist. "Northeast Ohio women and women across this land, with our supporters by our side, must rise up before the November presidential election and take to the streets to protest the attack on choice and our reproductive freedoms in general."

Trump and Biden will square off for the November presidential election in a heated contest with abortion rights among public policy issues at the helm.

Coleman said that since the mifepristone lawsuit rejected by the Supreme Court was obviously frivolous that "attorneys for defendants in the lawsuit should seek legal fees from the plaintiffs and their attorneys."

"They knew the case was frivolous and that they lacked standing to proceed," Coleman said, adding that "Black and poor women are disproportionately impacted by draconian anti-abortion efforts," and that "that remains a problem in Cleveland and Ohio, and nationally."

A rally on Cleveland City Hall steps in downtown Cleveland, Oh is scheduled for 5:30 pm June 24 where select elected officials and activists will rally against a national ban on abortion access and for women's reproductive rights. It is being organized by Women's March Cleveland and the Cuyahoga Democratic Women's Caucus. Other participating groups, practically all of them majority Black groups, include Black on Black Crime, Black Man's Army, Black Woman's Army, Imperial Women Coalition, Brick House Wellness Center, Laura Cowan Foundation and Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network.

Activists and elected officials who have advocated for reproductive rights for women will speak, including state Sen Nickie Antonio, Minority Leader for the Ohio Senate, and Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Meredith Turner. 

Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chairman David Brock, state Rep Juanita Brent of Cleveland, Cleveland Councilman Kevin Conwell, and Dr. Lauren Beene of Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights will also be among the speakers.

"Dangerous and extreme abortion bans are putting women’s health and lives at risk and disrupting access to critical health care services, including contraception, as health care providers are forced to close in states across the country." Coleman said.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.