Reproductive rights take center stage

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) -- Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings on federal agency powers could invite new lawsuits against reproductive rights. The decisions diminished how much say federal agencies can have over their own rules, which legal experts say will make it easier to challenge everything from the FDA's regulation of abortion pills to the availability of abortions at VA clinics.

"Federal agencies are not God," said Kristi Hamrick, the vice president of media and policy for Students for Life. "They don't get the benefit of the doubt any longer."

Hamrick said for too long, federal agencies have been able to adopt policies that she said would never be able to pass Congress.

"If you don't like what an agency has done, frankly right now, you're in a better place to sue," she said. 

Hamrick expects a slew of lawsuits to target the widely-used abortion pill, mifepristone. In a separate case this term, the Supreme Court decided abortion opponents lacked the legal right to sue over the FDA's approval and increased access to the medication. Hamrick said that challenge will now make a comeback.

"And it'll be a softer landing," she said.

That's exactly what advocates of abortion rights are worried about.

"Having judges and justices determine the safety and efficacy of mifepristone, especially these judges on this incredibly conservative court, will likely lead to further restrictions, unnecessary restrictions on that medication," said Katie O'Connor, the senior director of federal abortion policy for the National Women's Law Center.

O'Connor argued experts at the FDA, not judges, should have the final say on whether the abortion pill is safe and effective.

"It's just a huge power grab by the judiciary," she said. "This is going to make that chaos even deeper."

O'Connor said the Supreme Court's decisions on federal agency power have at least temporarily broken the rulemaking process.

"Congress is going to be left picking up the pieces, and we'll see how capable it is of doing that," she said. 

The high court's next term starts in October.