Big whup for reproductive freedom

Keep your eye on the courts, anyway.

On Thursday, in FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION ET AL. v. ALLIANCE FOR HIPPOCRATIC MEDICINE ET AL., the Supreme Court unanimously decided not to impose restrictions on accessing mifepristone, a drug that, according to the FDA, is a…

…blocks a hormone called progesterone that is needed for a pregnancy to continue. Mifepristone, when used together with another medicine called misoprostol, is used to end a pregnancy through ten weeks gestation (70 days or less since the first day of the last menstrual period).

The case was decided on the fairly basic legal concept of standing. The organization bringing the suit has no standing — no dog in the show, no pony in the race — to be a party to this lawsuit. It was a nothing burger, says the great Dahlia Lithwick with Mark Joseph Stern at Slate, and SCOTUS gets no applause because:

…the Supreme Court did the bare minimum necessary to operate like an actual court of law, unanimously throwing out an absurd and dangerous lawsuit against medication abortion. The justices do not deserve extra credit for refusing to embrace this deeply unserious litigation, and they should earn no gold stars for maintaining the legal status quo on abortion pills. They merely acted as minimally responsible adults in a room of sugared-up preschoolers, shutting down the lower courts’ lawless rampage over all known rules of standing in desperate pursuit of an anti-abortion agenda.

So what does this all mean? From the Washington Post:

Even though the court’s decision was unanimous, it is unlikely to be the end of efforts to restrict access to the pill. The ruling leaves an opening for three states — Missouri, Kansas and Idaho — to quickly try to revive the challenge before a federal judge in Texas who is well known for his antiabortion views.

Jesus on a Ritz Cracker, Missouri. DO BETTER.

If you want to know more about the Alliance, go to this sketchy website and learn, well, nothing. They have no standing for this lawsuit, nor do they know any one who can create a decent website.

Please understand this is just one volley in the war on reproductive freedom, and let’s get our swords up for the next round.