The US government, seemingly having a chuckle, appealed a decision by a Texas Judge who decided to hit the pause button on the FDA’s approval of a key abortion drug. The Department of Justice argues that this ruling puts women’s health at risk, blocking access to a pill that’s been considered safe for over two decades.
Submitting a filing to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, like your friend handing in their essay at 11:59 pm, the Department of Justice claims that Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision is just so wrong. They say this ruling undermines the FDA’s scientific judgment and would hurt women for whom the drug is medically necessary. And also, they added with a side-eye, the anti-abortion groups that wanted to overturn the FDA approval shouldn’t have been allowed to sue in the first place. Why? Because these groups can’t prove they were harmed and also, they didn’t really care about challenging the approval for years.
The Justice Department says Kacsmaryk’s decision is basically like spilling a whole cup of coffee onto a laptop while sitting in a cafe pretending to work. It “upends decades of reliance by blocking FDA’s approval of mifepristone and depriving patients of access to this safe and effective treatment, based on the court’s own misguided assessment of the drug’s safety.” The anti-abortion group lawyers were conspicuously quiet, probably out for lunch.
Kacsmaryk, a district judge appointed by Trump (surprise, surprise), said the FDA went above and beyond its power by ignoring mifepristone’s risks and relying on some questionable reasoning when approving it. Though he put his ruling on pause for seven days so that the Biden administration could appeal, it was still a bit of a mess.
On Monday, in true soap opera fashion, the Justice Department requested that the stay on Kacsmaryk’s decision remain in effect until April 13, and then stay in effect until all appeals, including a potential Supreme Court showdown, are resolved.
Turns out, mifepristone is part of a two-drug combo, including misoprostol, that’s used for medication abortions in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. This dynamic duo right here accounts for more than half of all US abortions.
Just 18 minutes before Kacsmaryk made his ruling, another federal judge across the country over in Washington state made the exact opposite call by directing the FDA to keep the drug available in 17 states. The Justice Department then asked the Washington state judge to explain what they should do if Kacsmaryk’s order takes effect, and now we’re all waiting with bated breath to see what happens next. Is the Supreme Court the ultimate decider in this he-said-she-said legal battle? Only time will tell.
For now, the White House stands behind the FDA, ready for this dramatic legal showdown. White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre chimed in: “This administration stands by the FDA and is prepared for this legal fight, and we will continue our work to protect reproductive rights.”
In the meantime, we have a case starring anti-abortion groups led by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which popped up just last August. They accused the FDA of not considering mifepristone’s safety for young girls under 18 and found a supportive sounding board in Judge Kacsmaryk, a well-known critic of Roe v. Wade.
Twelve US states are like, “No, absolutely not,” when it comes to abortion, while 14 others allow it at some point between 6 to 22 weeks of pregnancy, according to the nonprofit Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. If mifepristone were to be withdrawn, some abortion providers said they’d consider using a misoprostol-only regimen, which is like ordering a hamburger without the bun.
Now we wait to see how this legal saga unfolds in the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine et al v FDA et al, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 23-10362. Can we get some popcorn?
