U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) will soon hear oral arguments in a case about mifepristone

Next month, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) will hear oral arguments in a case that could have profound implications for the authority of the Food and Drug Administration and will certainly affect access to abortion.

The case, which involves disputes over the safety of the FDA-approved abortion drug mifepristone, is an appeal of two lower court decisions that agreed with a coalition of plaintiffs who challenged the scientific decision-making of the drug regulator.

The legal drama was heightened this week. The journal "Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology" retracted two articles that raised questions about the safety of mifepristone. Both of these articles were cited by the conservative district court judge in Texas who first ruled to suspend mifepristone’s FDA approval in the case that has now made its way to the high court.

Both studies were retracted for “a lack of scientific rigor” that made the papers’ conclusions dubious or invalid. The authors disclosed no conflicts of interest although all but one were affiliated with antiabortion groups.

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