A Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas has ordered a halt to the long-standing approval of mifepristone, a frequently used abortion medication.
Yet, an hour later, an Obama-appointed judge in Washington state issued a counter injunction, directing that no changes to its availability be made.
The pill has been legal for over 20 years and is used in the majority of abortions.
Due to the conflicting court orders, the case is likely to reach the United States Supreme Court.
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of Amarillo, Texas, suspended the FDA’s approval of mifepristone in a 67-page decision. The verdict will not take effect for seven days to give the administration time to file an appeal.
On Friday night, the US Department of Justice stated that it would appeal the Texas ruling.
The decision of Judge Kacsmaryk may restrict access to the medicine for millions of women in the United States. According to legal experts, the decision threatens to upend the fundamental structure of America’s drug regulating system.
That comes after the Supreme Court abolished abortion constitutional safeguards last year, sparking a wave of state-by-state restrictions.
Recent developments and reactions
An anti-abortion group in Texas, the Alliance Defending Freedom, filed a lawsuit claiming that the drug’s safety was never properly evaluated.
In his decision, Judge Kacsmaryk stated that the FDA clearance violated federal laws that allow for rapid approval of certain pharmaceuticals.
The FDA, according to the judgment, also failed to evaluate the “psychological repercussions” of mifepristone.
He found that the pill had not been evaluated for “under-18 girls undergoing reproductive development.”
He wrote that women who have chemical abortions frequently face “severe psychological anguish and post-traumatic stress.”
His legal judgment went on to say that the FDA’s “failure [to account for this] should not be overlooked or downplayed.”
Before approving mifepristone in 2000, the FDA reviewed it for four years.
Allison Whelan, an assistant professor of law at Georgia State University, called the verdict “inflammatory” because it refers to “unborn humans” rather than foetuses.
“The harsh anti-abortion language used throughout the judgement made the politics and ideology underlying Judge Kacsmaryk’s decision further evident,” she told the BBC.
“He cherry-picks the papers he references to support his conclusion that abortions are risky or hurt individuals who have them, while ignoring the numerous studies that disprove those results.”
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Meanwhile, the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal advocacy organization, hailed the Texas decision as a “major victory” for women and doctors.
Jeanne Mancini, president of another anti-abortion organization, March for Life, lauded it as “a significant step forward for women and girls.”
Nevertheless, an hour after the Texas verdict, another federal judge, this time in Washington state, issued a rival 31-page injunction in a separate case, ordering the FDA to keep the medicine on the market in the Democratic-controlled states that filed the action.
The counter-ruling was hailed by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson as a “major win… safeguarding access for the 18 plaintiff states.”
“We can’t let one right-wing radical overturn women, their doctors, and the scientists,” Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted in response to the Texas judgment.
Mifepristone, one of two drugs used to induce abortions, effectively terminates the pregnancy, while misoprostol, the second medicine, empties the uterus.
It was initially approved for pregnancy termination up to seven weeks gestation.
Its permitted use was expanded to 10 weeks of pregnancy in 2016.
Mifepristone is also used to treat miscarriages and Cushing syndrome, a hormone-related illness in women.
Both mifepristone and misoprostol are considered safe by the FDA, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and other mainstream medical organizations.
This week, the Democratic governor of Washington state said that state officials had stored a three-year supply of mifepristone in case it became unavailable countrywide.
Days later, the Republican governor of neighboring Idaho enacted legislation outlawing “abortion trafficking.” Adults who assist minors in leaving the state to have an abortion without parental authorization are breaking the law.
