Abortion drugs are headed back to the Supreme Court

Thursday, August 17, 2023

Good afternoon! It’s almost Friday. I’m Izzie Ramirez, and here’s what you need to know today: 

Spotlight: Abortion medication is safe (for now) — but is headed to the Supreme Court.

In other news: The Inflation Reduction Act is a year old, Hawaii's governor to block land grabs, and the ways history can help us figure out a plant-based future. 

PS: How are you liking the new Sentences format? We’d love to hear what you think. Write us at newsletters@vox.com or just reply to this email.

The fight over medication abortion is headed back to the Supreme Court again

Rachel Woolf/Washington Post via Getty Images

Don’t worry — access to medication abortion remains available and legal right now. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit handed down an opinion Wednesday, claiming that the common abortion drug known as mifepristone should effectively be banned, at least for several months. 

But it can’t do anything until the Supreme Court decides, which means access to the drug remains available.

The lowdown: The case is Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA. While it’s making its way back to the Supreme Court…

• This ruling can’t actually ban mifepristone right now. That’s because the Supreme Court has a temporary order blocking a previous attempt to ban mifepristone from last year.
• It’s the latest attempt to restrict abortion access, even though Dobbs argues that abortion policy shouldn’t be set by the courts.  

The stakes: I spoke with Supreme Court reporter Ian Millhiser about what the case means for you. If the Alliance case succeeds, it will strip the FDA of discretion when it comes to the approval process for new medications, requiring input from the courts.

“If the justices ban an abortion drug, that will prove that what they said in Dobbs is a lie,” he told me. “It would mean that the Court, rather than remaining neutral on abortion rights, intends to use its own authority to prevent people from having abortions.”

The takeaway: Ian says that he expects the case to die at the Supreme Court, mainly because there isn’t much of a legal argument. 

“This case is, and I'm going to use a legal term of art here, complete and utter horseshit,” he said. “The law is crystal clear that scientists in the FDA, and not lawyers in black robes, should decide which medications are safe enough to be prescribed in the United States, and how those drugs should be prescribed.

Read Ian’s full look into the Alliance case here.

The Inflation Reduction Act has an awareness problem

Scott Olson/Getty Images

It’s been one year (and a day) since the Inflation Reduction Act —  one of President Joe Biden’s hallmark policy achievements  — was passed, but most people still aren’t aware of how it impacts them. Here’s what you need to know: 

• The average American probably isn’t aware about all the free money in the Inflation Reduction Act. [Vox]
  
  
• Biden gave remarks on the anniversary, claiming the legislation has helped the economy. [NBC News]
  
  
• The act is a major climate achievement, and it has ramifications not just for the US, but the world. The first White House national climate adviser gives thoughts on where we can go next for policy. [Time]

🎧 Listen: What Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas really thinks, explained by The Gray Area.

• North Korea finally comments on the US soldier that crossed its borders, alleging that the soldier came to North Korea because of racial discrimination within the US Army. Li Zhou breaks down the stakes.
  
  

• New York City struggles to help asylum seekers arriving in the city. Ellen Ioanes dives into the bureaucracy and burdens standing in the way of helping migrants. 
  
  
• The history of plant-based foods can tell us about our future. Julieta Cardenas interviewed food writer Alicia Kennedy about her new book, No Meat Required.
  
  
• The Trump indictments reveal a tough paradox at the heart of American democracy. When leaders can get away with whatever they want, there is no real political equality. Yet, there’s good reason to doubt that the legal system is capable of solving the problem it’s been tasked with handling, argues Zack Beauchamp.

• Hawaii's governor vows to block land grabs, as Maui recovers and rebuilds. Gov. Josh Green will release his moratorium Friday, which will prevent land transactions on Lāhainā to keep pressure off residents. [NPR]
  
  

• Speaking of wildfires, Canada just evacuated a regional capital. Yellowknife is home to more than 22,000 people, marking the first time a Canadian capital city has ever had such an order. [Semafor]
  
  
• Why DeSantis’s war on “woke” isn’t working. For many Republican voters, his campaign may either be too vague or too much. [The 19th]
  
  
• Congrats to the millennials who are now homeowners! The student loan pause and remote work might have played a key role in shifting the demographic into a majority homeowner group. [The Guardian]

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