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A federal judge in Texas has stayed the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s approval of a leading abortion drug, which could suspend how roughly half of abortions are done nationwide. The ruling, issued by Donald Trump\u2013nominated US District Court judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, serves as yet another major blow to abortion access in the United States, in what could soon be one of the most far-reaching limits on the procedure since the fall of Roe v. Wade. The judge did provide the federal government seven days to seek emergency relief, meaning the drug won\u2019t be pulled off the shelves immediately.<\/p>\n
More than two decades after the drug, mifepristone, was first deemed safe by the federal agency, Kacsmaryk wrote in his decision that the \u201cFDA\u2019s approval of mifepristone is hereby STAYED. The Court STAYS the applicability of this opinion and order for seven (7) days to allow the federal government time to seek emergency relief from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.\u201d Mifepristone is one of two drugs used in a medication abortion.\u00a0The other drug used in medication abortions, misoprostol, has gone unchallenged in this suit and is legal<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The mifepristone case has been closely watched by both sides of the abortion debate since the lawsuit against the FDA was filed back in\u00a0November. The suit was brought by conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom on\u00a0behalf<\/a> of four doctors who have said they\u2019ve prescribed mifepristone, as well as four antiabortion medical organizations. Medication abortion has been a top target of antiabortion activists and lawmakers since the Supreme Court removed federal protections for abortion last summer. The\u00a0\u201cFDA failed America\u2019s women and girls when it chose politics over science and approved chemical abortion drugs for use in the United States,\u201d the\u00a0lawsuit said<\/a>, arguing that the government agency shouldn\u2019t have expedited the approval process for the medication.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a hearing last month, lawyers for the FDA argued that blocking access to the drug \u201cwould cause worse health outcomes for patients who rely on the availability of mifepristone to safely and effectively terminate their pregnancies,\u201d and if banned, it could cause \u201creal and significant harms\u201d to patients seeking abortion care. But the argument failed to convince Kacsmaryk, though it perhaps contributed to his decision to allow the government one week to respond.\u00a0<\/p>\n While significant, the ruling was expected. Appointed by Trump\u00a0in 2019, Kacsmaryk, a product of a\u00a0conservative legal pipeline<\/a>, has had a say in a number of right-wing suits targeting Biden administration policies.\u00a0Abortion rights advocates argued that it was no coincidence the mifepristone case landed in his docket.\u00a0Kacsmaryk,\u00a0despite assertions of his impartiality, has delivered a series of legal victories for Republicans, including on\u00a0immigration<\/a>, where he twice blocked the Biden administration from ending the Trump-era \u201cRemain in Mexico\u201d policy and on LGBTQ+ issues, where he struck down\u00a0protections for transgender individuals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n