A federal appeals court has issued a ruling in response to a lower court’s decision blocking the use of a popular abortion drug that liberals will not like much.
The higher court “walked back a decision by a Texas judge to suspend FDA approval of a pill used in up to half of abortions, but left in place some restrictions on the use of the pill,” the Daily Wire reported.
On Wednesday night, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans issued a decision that partially overturned a ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. The previous ruling had halted FDA approval of mifepristone.
The latest ruling specifies that mifepristone cannot be sent through the mail and must only be used up to the seventh week of pregnancy. Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice issued a conflicting ruling last week, stating that the FDA must continue allowing the drug in 17 Democratic-led states that had filed a lawsuit related to chemical abortions.
While Judge Kurt Engelhardt and Judge Andrew Oldham, who were appointed by former President Donald Trump, supported the limitations, Judge Catharina Haynes, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, opposed the regulation of the chemical abortion pill, according to the Daily Wire.
The panel added the restrictions because they did not deem them “critical” since “the nation operated — and mifepristone was administered to millions of women — without them for sixteen years,” which was between the initial approval of the drug in 2000 and the FDA’s changes to the process of acquiring mifepristone in 2016.
Kacsmaryk said he based his ruling on his belief the drug’s approval was based on unreliable studies.
“Simply put, FDA built on its already-suspect 2000 Approval by removing even more restrictions related to chemical abortion drugs that were present during the final phase of the investigation. And it did so by relying on studies that included the very conditions FDA refused to adopt,” he wrote.
The verdict made by Kacsmaryk was praised by pro-life groups but criticized by the Biden administration. The conflicting ruling by Rice increases the possibility that the case will eventually be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“We are going to continue to fight in the courts, we believe the law is on our side, and we will prevail,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week.
The discontinuation of mifepristone came after the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and other pro-life organizations filed a lawsuit. They were represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom.
“Pregnancy is not an illness, and chemical abortion drugs don’t provide a therapeutic benefit—they can pose serious and life-threatening complications to the mother, in addition to ending a baby’s life. The FDA never had the authority to approve these hazardous drugs and remove important safeguards,” said ADF Senior Counsel Erik Baptist.
