By Marisol Franco
WASHINGTON, DC – The ACLU applauded the U.S. Supreme Court late Friday administrative stay of a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that had “severely restricted” the use of mifepristone — used in half the abortions in the U.S. — and “threatened people’s access to a wide range of critical, even life-saving drugs.”
The ACLU explained the Supreme Court’s ruling will stay in place until Wednesday, April 19 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Following the release of this ruling, the director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, Jennifer Dalven, stated, “We are pleased that the court took the only sensible action here, which was to hit pause on a profoundly dangerous decision that has been widely criticized as unprecedented and wholly unprincipled by experts across the ideological spectrum.”
Dalven added, “Today’s ruling is just the first step: Now the courts must put an end to this baseless case – which is part of anti-abortion extremists’ plan to ban abortion nationwide. It threatens access not only to abortion and miscarriage care, but also to a wide swath of critical and life-saving medications. No matter what happens next, we know this fight is far from over.”