How the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade factored into the medication abortion case hearing
The medication abortion lawsuit targets actions the US Food and Drug Administration took around medication abortion pills before last summer's Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade's abortion rights protections.
While that decision, known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, didn't play a major role in Wednesday's arguments, the judge referenced it multiple times and suggested it could have an impact on his think about the case.
He brought up Dobbs early on in the hearing, and raised it specifically in connection with a friend of the court brief filed by 22 GOP-led states supporting the challengers.
The judge noted that the red states' brief argued that the FDA's actions were infringing on their state laws concerning abortion pills.
He asked Erin Hawley, an attorney for the challengers, whether Dobbs was an "intervening event" that has "changed the landscape" around the relationship between state and federal government concerning abortion policy.
Hawley agreed, calling it a "sea change."
