Anti-abortion stalwarts expressed widespread disappointment over the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold access to a widely available abortion pill, even as they vowed that their fight was far from over.
“We still have work to do,” said Erin Hawley, a lawyer for the Alliance Defending Freedom who argued the case. “A.D.F. is encouraged and hopeful that the F.D.A. will be held to account.”
She expressed hope that the court left room for legal action to continue for three states — Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri. In the long arc of anti-abortion activism, court losses historically can become victories as the lawyers and activists adapt their strategies and hone their arguments. Future challenges could consider alternative standing arguments, Ms. Hawley said.
“We stand with our allies, Attorneys General Raúl Labrador, Kris Kobach and Andrew Bailey, fighting to hold government bureaucrats accountable for betraying women and children,” Katie Daniel, the state policy director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a statement, referring to Republican attorneys general in those states.
Activists continued to push their message, dismissed by mainstream scientists, that the abortion pill is harmful to women. Some, like Students for Life, attempted to pivot toward future unconventional legal arguments, like arguing against abortion on environmental grounds.
“The Biden Administration allowed distribution of Chemical Abortion Pills in a way that exposes women to injury, infertility, and death, as well as empowers abusers and created abortion water pollution,” Kristan Hawkins, the group’s president, said in a statement. “We’ll be back.”
Their eyes are also fixed on a remaining case about whether hospital emergency rooms are required to provide abortions in urgent situations, like if a woman’s life is in jeopardy. The Supreme Court is expected to decide that case this term.