This morning the Supreme Court handed down its decision on the mifepristone case this morning. I had written about the brief and the oral argument for this case and in the latter case noted that the court was mainly focused on the issue of standing.

And with good reason—here’s a recap of the actual proof of standing presented by Josh Hawley’s wife:

–ER doctors who had to treat a woman with a bad reaction to mifepristone would be taking time and resources that belonged to patients who didn’t use a drug for medical abortion;

–citing cases that dealt with DNR cases, the doctors claimed they had a right to view pregnant woman in the wild; and

–OBGYNs like to deliver babies and women who have abortions deny doctors their right to that joy.

I wish I were lying.

It was a surprise and a relief to learn that the court, in a decision authored by Brett I Like Beer Kavanaugh, rejected all of these stupid arguments. I mean, it shouldn’t be a surprise except that this court has been hijacked by the extremists justices and Chief Justice John Roberts is just along for the ride. A majority of the abortions—60%–performed in the United States involve medical abortion like mifepristone, and it is widely available, so this is good news indeed.

But it is not anywhere close to the end of this litigation. Not only are there other cases ready to enter the pipeline to test where any standing weakness (or loopholes) might be, the possibility of litigating Comstock Act-related issues regarding mail order mifepristone has winguts salivating:

If a decision against the plaintiffs on standing happens, it may be only a stay of execution for mifepristone. Because the plaintiffs here don’t just want to criminalize medication abortion; they want to ban all abortions throughout the country. In order to do so, they argue that the Comstock Act of 1873, a notorious anti-vice law, already outlaws access to reproductive care. One section of the statute makes it a federal crime to send, through the mail or any common carrier, “every article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing which is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion.” Taken literally, and read in isolation from other provisions, this section would seem to make virtually all abortions unlawful.

It never ends with these people. But at least for now, access to mifepristone remains. Kelly can sing us out.