This morning, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected a challenge to federal approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, keeping the drug on the market. One vulnerable New Jersey Republican, Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), says the court made the right decision.

“Today’s unanimous Supreme Court ruling rightly leaves decisions about reproductive health to the state’s elected legislatures,” said Kean, who represents New Jersey’s most competitive district and described himself as “pro-choice” in the past.

The court's decision, however, leaves in place the abortion bans and restrictions that prevail in many Republican-led states – perhaps prompting Kean to remark that decisions about mifepristone should be left to “elected state legislatures.” Kean's Democratic opponent in this November's general election, Sue Altman, agreed with Kean that the decision was the right one, but said much more needs to be done to protect abortion access across the country, even in conservative states.

“The Supreme Court's decision to uphold access to abortion medication is a critical victory for reproductive rights,” Altman said on Twitter this morning. “It is also a stark reminder of the ongoing all-out assault on these fundamental rights. Codifying these protections at the federal level is paramount to protecting women in New Jersey and across the country, and is why we need #FlipNJ7.”

“Decisions about reproductive health belong between women and their doctors, not 'elected state legislatures,'” she later added in response to Kean's comments.

The ruling was celebrated by most Democrats in New Jersey's congressional delegation, as well as Gov. Phil Murphy, who all expressed relief that mifepristone will continue to be available nationwide. But they also noted that the fight is far from over, given the Supreme Court's past hostility toward abortion.

“As we saw with the Dobbs decision, this Court has no remorse when it comes to rolling back freedoms that have existed for decades,” said Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing). “We can no longer rely on the Supreme Court to protect our civil rights and liberties as we once could. While we can breathe a sigh of relief for now, we must take action at the federal level to protect access to medication abortion, contraception and medical care for people who need it.”

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) went a step further and created a toolkit for local Democrats in New Jersey with facts about the ruling and a guide for responding to it. Sherrill also pointed to her End the Judge Shopping ActThis would prevent the “judge shopping” that allowed mifepristone opponents to originally file their lawsuit in a Texas district where the trial was guaranteed by a sympathetic judge.

“This case should never have come before the Supreme Court,” Sherrill said. “Pro-life activists have used a tactic called 'judge shopping' to cherry-pick cases by appearing in court before their favorite judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, of the MAGA movement. Congress must close this glaring gap in our legal system by passing my Ending Judge Shopping Act Act so that our courts are no longer used to advance a far-right political agenda.”

This story was updated at 8:25 p.m. with further comment from Altman.