What did Barrett and other candidates say about Roe vs.
Wade?
3:20
(CNN) -
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration's request for long-standing restrictions to be restored for patients seeking to obtain a drug used to abort early in pregnancy.
The three liberal judges disagreed, in a possible preview of what will be a new chapter in the court's rulings on the procedure.
The timing of the ruling came as a surprise, as it came after the closing of operations in the final days of the Trump administration and before Wednesday's House impeachment vote.
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It is also the first abortion case to be brought before Judge Amy Coney Barrett, and it supports fears by abortion rights advocates that it will move the court to the right in divisive cases related to this issue.
Federal courts, citing the covid-19 pandemic, had previously blocked enforcement of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules that require an in-person visit to a medical professional to pick up the drug. .
Implications of the ruling for abortion cases in the US
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court said it believed the administration should be able to enforce the rule despite concerns about the coronavirus.
"Here, as in contexts related to government responses to the pandemic, my view is that courts owe significant deference to politically responsible entities with the 'background, competence and experience to assess public health,'" wrote the president of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, explaining his vote.
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CNN contributor and law professor Steve Vladeck pointed to the unusual timing for the ruling's issuance and the potentially profound implications for
Roe v.
Wade.
This is a landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalizes abortion nationwide before viability, which can occur at approximately 24 weeks of pregnancy.
"With the Biden administration eight days away from me, the odds of this FDA rule being in the norm for much longer seems pretty slim," Vladeck said.
"The far greater significance of tonight's ruling is the omen it seems to provide for how the new conservative majority is going to deal with abortion cases," he explained.
Liberals Disagree
In the dissenting position, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who was joined by Judge Elena Kagan, cited an earlier opinion by the late Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Ginsburg was a staunch advocate for abortion rights, and was replaced by Barrett in court.
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“Because FDA policy imposes an unnecessary, unjustifiable, irrational, and undue burden on women seeking an abortion during the current pandemic, and because the Government has not shown irreparable harm by injunction, I am in disagree, "wrote Sotomayor.
Sotomayor and Kagan expressed their hope that the Biden administration "will show greater care and empathy for women who seek some control over their health and reproductive lives in these disturbing times."
Fight in the courts since the summer
Drug abortion, a nonsurgical procedure effective up to about 10 weeks of pregnancy, generally involves taking two drugs.
It has to be done several days apart.
The contested regulation concerns mifepristone, the first drug, which acts to block the hormone progesterone.
This is a hormone necessary for the pregnancy to continue.
After a lower court blocked the rule last summer, the administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
However, an eight-member court refused to do so in October and sent the case back to the lower court.
In December, the lower court upheld its own injunction and the Trump administration returned to the Supreme Court.
This resulted in Tuesday's ruling.
Discussion of another abortion case approaches
This is the second major abortion case the court has ruled in recent months, after Roberts sided with the four liberals in the court at the time to block an abortion ban in Louisiana in June.
A large number of cases challenging abortion restrictions are pending for the court to consider.
Judges are scheduled to consider on Friday whether they will hear a case that could directly challenge Roe's ruling.
This instance has been rescheduled at least six times.
That case concerns Mississippi's ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
This rule was enacted by Republican Gov. Phil Bryant in 2018. The law made exceptions only for medical emergencies or cases where there is a "severe fetal abnormality."
He made no exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
A federal judge in Mississippi struck down the law in November 2018. For its part, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling late last year.
CNN's Joan Biskupic contributed to this report.
Abortion United States Supreme Court
