Last Updated on April 9, 2023 3:09 am by INDIAN AWAAZ
AMN / Web Desk —
Uncertainty over the availability of the drug has arisen after two federal judges’ conflicting rulings on the use of the drug for abortion in the United States.
Mifepristone tablets for abortion have been widely available in the country for more than 20 years. The drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000.
The drug the Food and Drug Administration approved in 2000 appeared to remain at least immediately available in wake of two separate rulings that were issued minutes apart by federal judges in Texas and Washington.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, ordered a hold on federal approval of mifepristone in a decision that overruled decades of scientific approval.
That decision came at nearly the same time U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice, an Obama appointee, essentially ordered the opposite and directed U.S. authorities not to make any changes that would restrict access to the drug in at least 17 states where Democrats sued to protect availability.
The extraordinary timing of the competing orders revealed the high stakes surrounding the drug nearly a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and curtailed access to abortion across the country.
The Justice Department swiftly gave notice it would appeal the Texas ruling and said it was reviewing the decision from Washington.
Abortion providers slammed the Texas ruling, including Whole Woman’s Health, which operates six clinics in five states and said it would continue to dispense mifepristone in person and by mail over the next week as they review the rulings.
Legal experts warned that the ruling could upend decades of precedent, setting the stage for political groups to overturn other FDA approvals of controversial drugs and vaccines.