Mifepristone: Joe Biden to fight judge’s ruling to halt approval of major abortion pill
US approval of the abortion medication mifepristone has been revoked, in a decision that could further disrupt reproductive healthcare for millions of people.
District Judge Matthew J Kacsmaryk, a Trump administration appointee in Amarillo, Texas, signed an injunction directing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to halt its approval while a lawsuit challenging its safety continues.
He sided, in part, with a conservative Christian group, Alliance Defending Freedom, who brought a lawsuit alleging the drug was not being regulated properly.
He did not go as far as the plaintiffs wanted, but he put a “stay” or hold on approval of the drug.
The judge’s decision does not come into effect for seven days. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has announced it will appeal the ruling.
In a statement, President Joe Biden said: “My Administration will fight this ruling…
“Let’s be clear – the only way to stop those who are committed to taking away women’s rights and freedoms in every state is to elect a Congress who will pass a law restoring Roe versus Wade.
“Vice President Harris and I will continue to lead the fight to protect a woman’s right to an abortion, and to make her own decisions about her own health.”
Mifepristone blocks the hormone needed to maintain a pregnancy and has been approved in the US since 2000 for medical abortion and miscarriage management.
It is used safely in more than 60 countries worldwide and when taken together with the drug misoprostol, accounts for more than half of abortions in America.
Some abortion providers have said they will wait for guidance from the FDA before implementing the ban on mifepristone.
In a separate ruling in Washington state on Friday night, a judge said the FDA must keep medication abortion drugs available in at least 12 liberal states, creating a legal stand-off on the drug, which is likely to escalate to the Supreme Court.
‘Ludicrous’ to question drug ‘safer than ibuprofen’
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists say the Texas lawsuit disregards “decades of data” that support the efficacy of mifepristone, and is “exacerbating the current abortion care crisis in the US”.
Dr Razel Remen, an abortion provider in Michigan, told Sky News: “Mifepristone is literally one of the safest medications on the market – safer than ibuprofen, safer than Tylenol.
“People are more likely to have an adverse event happen to them driving in their car, or going through childbirth… The fact that it’s even being put into question is absolutely ludicrous.”
Angel, who is 24 and lives in Texas, had an abortion using the drug in February.
She was already a mother of three, and decided to terminate her recent pregnancy because she did not want any more children.
Angel says this attempted ban on mifepristone is “another attack on a woman’s right to choose”.
“You can do it at home… it’s convenient, it’s easy, it’s safe… I just don’t understand how something could be right for so many years. And then one day, all of a sudden, be wrong.”
Pills have become the new frontier in the battle for abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade – the constitutional right to abortion – last June.
Many people trying to access abortion in severely restricted states are ordering pills in the post, or travelling across state lines to pick them up.
As abortion clinics have already been shuttered in Texas, Angel had to acquire the pills through underground methods.
“It’s nearly impossible to get an abortion here,” she said. “You can’t go to the pharmacy. You can’t go to a Planned Parenthood. No clinics… nothing… If you find it, it’s like a blessing.”
Read more:
Could abortion really be banned in the UK?
What’s changed since Roe v Wade was overturned?
‘Outrageous injustice’
Now, with mifepristone access in jeopardy, pro-choice campaigners fear that getting an abortion in America has become even harder to navigate.
“What’s clear is that we need all forms of abortion in this country, and we need them all to be legal,” Elisa Wells, co-founder of the organisation Plan C, tells us.
Her organisation provides information and support to women searching for abortion access in every state.
“This injustice is being done by manipulating the court system to try and ban this medication… It’s really outrageous,” Ms Wells said.
“We are a modern democracy, and we need access to basic medical care in every part of our country, legally and without restriction – and that includes abortion.”
There are alternatives to mifepristone for those still trying to access medical abortion.
Some doctors have been anticipating the ruling, and plan to move to a misoprostol-only option. They say that method is still safe, but it has the potential for more side effects and increased discomfort.
This decision marks yet another controversial legal battle over abortion access in America, which has the potential to wind up back in the Supreme Court.
US
The shock of a shooting will cut deeply – but if anywhere can find hope in the face of despair, Providence can
“Most of us live off hope” – the text of a colourful mural, painted on a wall on Hope Street, Providence.
On most days, the neighbourhood around Brown University feels like a place of quiet optimism, swimming against the negative tide.
Hope Street’s mural
The shock of a shooting, that has claimed two lives and left eight others critically wounded, will cut deeply here.
Violence feels not just intrusive but incompatible with the spirit of a place that is governed by thought, not threat.
When the university president said “this is a day we hoped would never come”, she spoke for the whole town.
Two students were killed in the attack
Providence, Rhode Island, is a place I know well. My daughter, her husband and their two little girls live there.
It is a college town with a college vibe, the compact campus priding itself on openness – architecturally, intellectually and emotionally.
They rehearse “shelter-in-place” scenarios, as every university does, but they are not experienced at living behind locked doors.
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‘Stay inside,’ mayor warns as suspect still at large
Rhode Island, the smallest state, has one of the lowest gun-death rates in America, zero mass shooting events in 2024.
Earlier this year, the state banned the sale and manufacture of assault weapons, but it didn’t include those already owned.
Even in a Democratic, liberal state like Rhode Island, they are struggling to find a solution to America’s gun problem.
People hug each other outside Brown University in Providence after the shooting. Pic: Reuters
The age-old constitutional right to bear arms continues to trump the most human of all rights – the right to life.
This is a community that assumes safety, not because it is naïve, but because it has grown accustomed to trust.
College Hill rises in gentle brick and ivy, its narrow streets winding past houses with verandas designed for long conversations.
They take place in hushed tones right now, but if anywhere can find its way out of despair, Providence can.
On the historic street along its east side and in the college on the corner, most people live off hope.
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