How the mifepristone case before SCOTUS could affect abortion in Pa.

The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing a case that could put limits on access to mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortions.Pennsylvania is widely considered a “safe” state for reproductive rights: Abortion is legal up to 24 weeks, and Gov. Josh Shapiro was among 21 governors who urged the U.S. Supreme Court in an amicus brief to rule in favor of access to mifepristone.“I believe in women’s freedom to choose – and as long as I’m governor, I will always defend freedom in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said in a statement in January.Medication abortion includes mifepristone as the first drug and misoprostol as the second. The two-drug regimen accounted for about 63% of abortions within the United States in 2023, according to a March report from the Guttmacher Institute.And according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, medication abortions accounted for more than half of all abortions performed in the state in 2022, the most recent year for which data was available.The caseAlliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit in November 2022, challenging the original approval of the abortion pill in 2000 as well as the changes to when and how the drug could be used that were made in 2016...