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WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that women must visit a doctor, hospital or clinic in person to get an abortion pill during the COVID-19 pandemic, although similar rules for others drugs were suspended during the public health emergency.
Eight days before President Donald Trump left, judges appealed to the Trump administration to be able to enforce a long-standing rule on getting the abortion pill, mifepristone. The pill should not be taken in the presence of healthcare professionals.
The court was divided 6-3, with the liberal judges dissenting. The new administration could suspend the requirement in person after Joe Biden takes office on January 20.
A federal judge had suspended the rule since July because of the coronavirus, in response to a lawsuit by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other groups.
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang upheld the suspension of the rule in December, saying the public health risks for patients had increased as COVID-19 cases skyrocketed.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of mifepristone in combination with a second drug, misoprostol, to terminate an early pregnancy or manage a miscarriage.
The administration has suspended similar in-person visits for other drugs, including opioids in some cases, but refused to relax the rules for getting the abortion pill.
In October, the Supreme Court allowed women to continue to receive the abortion pill by mail, but postponed any substantive decision. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would then have granted the administration’s request.
At the time, there were only eight judges on the court, with Judge Amy Coney Barrett having been appointed but not yet confirmed. Barrett took the seat of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died in September.
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