Hi, and welcome to Your Health Quickly, a scientific American podcast series.

On this show, we highlight the latest vital health news, discoveries that affect your body

and your mind.

Every episode, we dive into one topic.

We discuss diseases, treatments, and some controversies.

And we demystify the medical research in ways you can use to stay healthy.

I'm Tanya Lewis.

I'm Josh Fishman.

We are scientific American senior health editors.

On the show today, we're talking about an obscure 19th century obscenity law.

It's given rise to the recent court rulings that attempt to restrict access to the abortion

pill, methapristone.

April was a busy month for the fight to rollback reproductive rights.

First, a judge in Texas issued a ruling that would have removed the abortion pill, methapristone,

from the market.

It's used in more than half of abortions in the U.S., and it's also used for miscarriage

treatment.

The Supreme Court has blocked the ruling for now.

Methapristone, known as the abortion pill, gets a temporary lifeline from the U.S. Supreme

Court.

Justices need more time to weigh in on whether the drug should remain widely available, or

rollbacked restrictions placed on methapristone when it was approved more than 20 years ago.

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