A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Trump administration has been fairly quiet on abortion so far.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
But on Monday, Trump's Justice Department asked the federal court to dismiss a case that could seriously restrict access to abortion nationally.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin has been following this particular case for several years now. So tell us about this case, Selena.
SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE: Well, it's challenging the Food and Drug Administration's rules about mifepristone, which is one of the pills used for medication abortion. It's also used to manage miscarriages. And if you're thinking, didn't the Supreme Court already reject that case? - you would be right, kind of. The justices last year rejected the original challenge brought by a group of Christian doctors. But now three states - Missouri, Idaho and Kansas - have intervened. They're arguing, essentially, they can't ban abortion if residents can receive this medication through the mail. So they're taking up this challenge to FDA's decisions about medication abortion again.
MARTÍNEZ: So that's what the Trump administration's Justice Department wants to dismiss?
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Yeah, exactly. They took that position in a filing on Monday. And this was a bit surprising because that's the same position the Biden administration's Justice Department had made, and you might not expect a lot of continuity when it comes to abortion between these two administrations.
MARTÍNEZ: Does that mean, though, that the Trump administration is planning to go easy on new abortion restrictions this time around? Because the president has pointed out many times that the justices that he appointed were responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Yeah, I don't think that's necessarily what it means. That's in part because the federal judge in Texas who's presiding, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, is known to be very receptive to antiabortion arguments. So this case might continue regardless of what the Trump administration wants to do. Also, this is not the only tool in the Trump administration's toolbox when it comes to restricting abortion. Katie Keith is the director of the Georgetown Center for Health Policy and the Law and formerly served on Biden's Gender Policy Council.
KATIE KEITH: I would say the jury is still out, essentially, of how aggressive the Trump administration is going to be on medication abortion.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: She says if they want to restrict access, they could. For example, the Trump administration's FDA could just go ahead and add restrictions on who can get this medication and how without being required to by the court.
MARTÍNEZ: You think the FDA would do that?
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: You know, it's hard to predict. The new FDA commissioner, Marty Makary, said publicly in April there were, quote, "no plans" for FDA to restrict mifepristone. But plans can change. This is a medication that's been approved for almost 25 years. It's been found to be safe and effective in ending a pregnancy, along with another medication called misoprostol, and it's a medication that's used globally. The World Health Organization says it can be used safely in the first trimester of pregnancy without the direct supervision of a health care provider. The FDA here in this country made the same determination.
And what's happened since Roe v. Wade was overturned nearly three years ago is that half of states have banned abortion, but the total number of abortions nationally has gone up in part because people have been able to get this medication through the mail. There are a lot of ways that the Trump administration could try to tamp down on that outside of this court case if it wants to, and that's what remains to be seen.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin covers health policies. Selena, thanks.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
