Eye on Politics Brief: Supreme Court to hear arguments in battle over abortion pills
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in the battle over access to mifepristone, a pill used in more than half of US abortions.
The FDA approved mifepristone in 2000, but last year, a group of doctors and medical groups opposed to abortion challenged that approval, arguing that the protocol is "unsafe."
Despite being illegal in states like Texas, some patients have been able to medication abortions through telehealth services and by receiving pills by mail.
More than a dozen states have passed so-called abortion shield laws to protect telehealth providers who prescribe medication abortion pills to patients in states where abortion is illegal. These kinds of laws explicitly state that state officials and agencies won't assist another state's efforts to look into or punish such providers. Abortion opponents see the laws as a bold infringement on state sovereignty.