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Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling on the abortion pill mifepristone represents a subdued victory for abortion-rights activists. The court wrote in a unanimous decision that the plaintiffs in the case – anti-abortion organizations and doctors – did not have the standing to challenge the Food and Drug Administration’s approval and regulation of mifepristone. The decision temporarily protects access to the drug for use in medication abortions through the mail from certified pharmacies, via telehealth and by nonphysician providers such as nurse practitioners in states where it is legal.
But experts say it’s certain that this is not the end of litigation involving mifepristone and that individual states could still threaten access to the drug in the future. Some of those state efforts are already making their way through the lower courts, explain law professors Naomi Cahn and Sonia Suter.
“While the short-term consequences of the ruling leave mifepristone available where it is legal, this is not the last word on access to medication abortion,” they write.
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Amanda Mascarelli
Senior Health and Medicine Editor
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Activists on both sides of the abortion battle are gearing up for it to be a major issue in the 2024 election.
Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
Naomi Cahn, University of Virginia; Sonia Suter, George Washington University
The opinion did not take on the substance of the plaintiffs’ claims against mifepristone, and the abortion pill is already facing other challenges.
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Science + Technology
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Christopher Damman, University of Washington
Your upper intestine is host to a distinct population of microbes that play a role in digestion, metabolism and immunity.
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Sorin Adam Matei, Purdue University
Novel metaphors can make it easier to understand complex concepts such as quantum computing.
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Politics + Society
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Thomas D. Beamish, University of California, Davis
Public tragedies are heartrending events that gain widespread public attention. But where once prominent tragedies often brought Americans together, such tragedies no longer unify the country.
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Education
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Laura Voith, Case Western Reserve University
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Economy + Business
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Michael Z. Green, Texas A&M University
It’s not certain that the ruling will make it harder for fired union organizers to get their jobs back, a labor law professor explains.
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Cristina Bodea, Michigan State University; Ana Carolina Garriga, University of Essex
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Ethics + Religion
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Thomas S. Bremer, Rhodes College
On Flag Day, a historian of religions in America explains how Pledge of Allegiance, which honors the American flag, is part of American civil religion.
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Environment + Energy
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Danielle DeLeo, Florida International University; Andrea Quattrini, Smithsonian Institution
Dozens of animals, some on land but many in the ocean, can produce light within their bodies through chemical reactions. Scientists are still trying to understand when and why this trait developed.
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Health + Medicine
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Christopher P. Holstege, University of Virginia; Rita Farah, University of Virginia
Researchers found a sharp rise in calls to US poison centers about magic mushrooms coincided with their decriminalization in several US cities and states.
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Arts + Culture
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Ian Brodie, Cape Breton University; Moira Marsh, Indiana University
Cringe, corny and awkward − what’s not to love?
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The Conversation News Quiz 🧠
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Here’s the first question of this week’s edition:
June 24 will be the second anniversary of the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended 50 years of national abortion rights. What was the name of that case?
- A. Dobbs v. Jackson
- B. Plessy v. Ferguson
- C. State of Texas v. McMurtry
- D. Roe v. Wade 2: The Empire Strikes Back
Test your knowledge
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