ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The abortion issue is once again before the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, justices heard oral arguments in a case which could limit access to a commonly used abortion drug, and have far-reaching consequences for other medications.

So, KOB 4 spoke with a University of New Mexico law professor about what those consequences could be. 

“The issue here to me though is broader than a single drug,” said UNM Law Professor Joshua Kastenberg. 

Kastenberg says no matter how the U.S. Supreme Court decides Tuesday’s case to restrict access to the abortion drug, mifepristone, it will set the tone for similar cases in the future.

“If the court, the federal courts, open themselves to this kind of challenge then everything that we’re used to, including over-the-counter allergy medications, something that interested main particular because I’m taking them, you know, if I took vitamins, pain medications of the like will be open to challenge by very narrow groups of people. That’s what’s at stake here with this ruling,” said Kastenberg. 

He adds the Supreme Court could end up with a stronger say than the Food and Drug Administration field experts about what should be on shelves or not.

There’s a factor that makes this case even more polarizing. 

“This drug that’s being debated is a drug like any other except for one thing, the public isn’t split on the use of allergy medication or aspirin right? The public is split on the meaning of life and whether or not women have a right to choose their own reproductive futures,” Kastenberg said. 

He says because of that, the ruling could take months to come out. 

“This case has a higher volatility to it than any other FDA case that comes before the court in the last 10 year,” Kastenberg said. 

Kastenberg says if the court chooses not to rule on it at all, it’s saying it has no role overseeing the FDA.

“But I think the ruling will come out somewhere in the middle that the FDA actually complied with the spirit of the law,” said Kastenberg.