SCOTUS Maintains Access to Abortion Pill; G7 Summit: $50B Loan to Ukraine Using Russian Assets

The Supreme Court ruled against plaintiffs in a lawsuit Thursday that challenged the Food and Drug Administration’s approach to regulating the abortion pill mifepristone. The ruling allows for the pills to continue to be mailed to patients without an in-person doctor’s visit. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the opinion for a unanimous court. The court ruled that the doctors and pro-life groups that had challenged access to the drug did not have standing to sue.

Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) political and economic forum have agreed to engineer a $50-billion loan to help Ukraine in its continued fight against Russia. Interest earned on profits from Russia’s frozen central bank assets will be used as collateral. Details of the deal are being hashed out by G7 leaders at their summit in Italy. The money could reach Kyiv before the end of the year, according to U.S. and French officials, who confirmed the agreement ahead of a formal announcement.

Russian prosecutors have sent the espionage case against jailed American journalist Evan Gershkovich to court, accusing him of spying for the CIA. The Russian Prosecutor General’s office said it had approved the indictment and that Mr. Gershkovich will stand trial in the city of Yekaterinburg, where he was arrested in March 2023—making him the first American journalist to be arrested on espionage charges since the Cold War.