The USA's highest court preserves broad access to the most commonly used abortion pill in the country, which abortion opponents have tried to stop.
"Citizens and doctors do not have the right to sue simply because others have permission to perform an action," writes conservative judge Brett Kavanaugh.
A unanimous court does not believe there are legal grounds for abortion opponents to appeal the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.
The medication has been approved for use in the USA since 2000 and has been used by six million people. Last year, mifepristone was used in two-thirds of all abortions in the country.
Had the Supreme Court sided with abortion opponents, the pill could have been banned or severely restricted, even in states where abortion is legal.
First since Roe v Wade
"We are aware that many citizens, including the plaintiff doctors in this case, genuinely feel concern and opposition to others using mifepristone and performing abortions," writes Trump-appointed judge Brett Kavanaugh in the ruling, and continues:
"But citizens and doctors do not have the right to sue simply because others have permission to perform an action."
The case is the first major case regarding abortion issues in the Supreme Court since the court in 2022 overturned the "Roe v Wade" decision from 1973, which secured abortion rights nationally in the USA. Since then, several states have chosen to tighten their abortion laws.
The case ended up with the Supreme Court after a conservative judge in Texas last year decided on a ban on mifepristone. The White House immediately announced that the Texas ruling would be appealed.
Had the Texas ruling stood, it would have opened up the possibility of a multitude of FDA-approved medications being subject to court rulings.
The battle continues
Thursday's decision does not mean that mifepristone becomes fully accessible across the entire USA, and women's right to the medication still depends on different state laws. Only around half of all states allow full access to the medication.
14 states in the USA have introduced near-total abortion bans, and a few more have a six-week limit. In several states, the abortion issue is up for change.
Abortion rights are likely to be one of the hottest issues in the upcoming presidential election in the USA. President Joe Biden says in a comment that the ruling does not guarantee the right to abortion.
Today's decision does not change the fact that the battle continues, he says, and reminds us that the same Supreme Court previously overturned abortion rights.
Mifepristone is an antihormone that inhibits the effect of progesterone, which is necessary for a pregnancy to progress. The medication is prescribed by doctors to medically terminate a pregnancy.
In the USA, the medication mifepristone, also known as RU 486, is one of two approved components used to induce abortion during the first ten weeks of pregnancy. The medication was approved in the USA in 2000.
Over half of all abortions in the USA are performed with mifepristone, according to official figures. The method is documented to be safe and has an effectiveness of 99.6 per cent.
The medication combination mifepristone and misoprostol is approved in over 60 countries worldwide for terminating pregnancies, including Sweden.
