A zealous federal judge in Texas appointed by former president Donald Trump could revoke the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill.
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk was an obscure conservative Christian rights activist who was largely chosen by Trump due to his unusually conservative political views.
A former lawyer at a law firm affiliated with the religious right, Kacsmaryk became the first federal judge since the Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion to attack the right to contraception.
He is now expected to weigh in on a lawsuit that would normally be quickly dismissed.
Anti-abortion group The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine has almost no information listed about it online. A generic landing page is its excuse for a website, and it includes absolutely no information. There is no phone number, no email, no physical address, and no board of directors listed.
In November, this mystery organization filed a lawsuit challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s 22-year-long approval of Mifepristone, a key component of the abortion pill.
Most judges would dismiss this lawsuit, experts say. But not Kacsmaryk, a known anti-abortionist, and political conservative. And it was no accident that this is exactly whose desk the lawsuit has landed on.
If he agrees with their arguments — and there is a real chance he may agree with their arguments — he could issue an injunction that would stop the distribution of the abortion pill, even in states with strong abortion protections like Vermont, California, and New York.
President Joe Biden’s administration is urging Kacsmaryk to reject the request by these anti-abortion groups for a court order withdrawing federal approval for the drug used in medication abortions, citing potential dangers to women seeking to end their pregnancies.
“The public interest would be dramatically harmed by effectively withdrawing from the marketplace a safe and effective drug that has lawfully been on the market for twenty-two years,” lawyers for the FDA said in the filing to Kacsmaryk, who is based in Amarillo.
Medication abortions account for more than half of U.S. abortions. More than 3.7 million women have used Mifepristone since the abortion pill became available more than two decades ago in the U.S. It is taken with its companion drug, Misoprostol, to terminate unwanted pregnancies.
Last year, more than half of documented abortions in America were done with help from the abortion pill. The pill’s ubiquity, its ability to be sent quickly and discreetly through the mail, and be taken within the privacy of one’s home, have made it a desirable option for anyone seeking to end an early pregnancy.
In its court filing, the FDA said there was no basis for second-guessing the FDA’s judgment. The FDA said that pulling the drug would force patients seeking abortions in many cases to undergo unnecessary and more invasive surgical abortions.
That would result in longer wait times and would carry risks for some patients including those intolerant to anesthesia, the FDA said.
Be the first to comment