Today, the U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously decided in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and Danco Laboratories LLC v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine that a group of anti-abortion physicians and medical organizations had no legal right to sue the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its actions expanding access to mifepristone – a safe and effective abortion medication that has been available in the United States for over two decades.
Ensuring equitable access to high quality health care services – including abortion care – is especially important for Black communities and has been a long-standing concern for the Legal Defense Fund (LDF). Black people have historically faced profound inequities in accessing reproductive and abortion care, and these inequities have been exacerbated by the Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
“With today’s decision, the Supreme Court correctly rejected anti-abortion organizations’ attempts to reverse the FDA’s 2016 and 2021 decisions regarding mifepristone, a medication with an established record of safety and efficacy. LDF will continue working to secure the rights of Black communities to access health care, including abortion care,” said Alexandra Thompson, Senior Counsel at LDF.
In January 2024, LDF filed an amicus brief in support of the FDA and Danco Laboratories. In it, we outlined how restricting access to mifepristone would deny people access to abortion care and have a significant impact on Black communities.
Learn more about LDF’s work to protect reproductive rights here.
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Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation’s first civil rights law organization. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Please note that LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights.
