Judge bans Abortion Pill Nationally and Overrules the FDA
Not sure where these critters come from; but, it sure is tiring. One person lacking the foundation for making such a decision is allowed to make the decision only because of his status. If he has a legal background (???), he knows he is wrong
So much for “leave it up to the states:” Right-wing activist w/no medical training overrules FDA, bans mifepristone nationally, ACA Signups, Charles Gaba.
Charles: I was out of town for much of last week (my son’s robotics team made it to the state championship) so I’m afraid I’m playing a bit of catch up today, so I kind of missed out on writing about this development which, while expected, is both depressing and enraging. Via the NY Times:
A federal judge in Texas issued a preliminary ruling invalidating the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, an unprecedented order that — if it stands through court challenges — could make it harder for patients to get abortions in states where abortion is legal, not just in those trying to restrict it.
The drug will continue to be available at least in the short-term since the judge, Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, stayed his own order for seven days to give the F.D.A. time to ask an appeals court to intervene.
Less than an hour after Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling, a judge in Washington state issued a ruling in another case, which contradicted the Texas decision, ordering the F.D.A. to make no changes to the availability of mifepristone in the 18 states that filed that lawsuit.
So on the same day you have a Texas judge ruling against mifepristone and a Washington judge ruling in favor of it, and you know what that means . . .
The conflicting orders by two federal judges, both preliminary injunctions issued before the full cases have been heard, appear to create a legal standoff likely to escalate to the Supreme Court.
The judge who ruled against the drug was appointed by Donald Trump, while the judge who ruled in favor of it was appointed by Barack Obama, just in case you needed a reminder that elections have massively important consequences even for positions which technically elected.
In the 67-page Texas ruling, Judge Kacsmaryk appeared to agree with virtually all of the claims made by the anti-abortion groups and repeatedly used the language of abortion opponents, calling medication abortion “chemical abortion” and referring to a fetus as an “unborn human” or “unborn child.”
As disturbing as this ruling is, it has the potential to have even larger implications going forward, as noted by Health & Human Services Sec. Becerra in response to the ruling:
Today, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra released the following statement on the Texas district court’s decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA:
“This is a regressive ruling issued by a single court in a single state that will have a disastrous impact on women and families across America if not overturned. Mifepristone was approved by the FDA as safe and effective to manage abortion decades ago and has been approved by drug regulators around the globe. Today’s decision jeopardizes the health of women across the country. It undermines our nation’s entire system of drug approval. It opens the door for courts to overturn FDA’s evidence-based decisions for purely political or ideological reasons.
“Today’s ruling affects more than just access to abortion care. Some physicians use mifepristone for miscarriage management, which can be one of the most difficult times in a woman’s life.
Oh, yeah . . . via Wikipedia
He has worked on cases opposing certain LGBT protections in housing, employment, and health care. He has referred to homosexuality as “disordered”, and to being transgender as a “delusion” and a “mental disorder”.
AB Note: “Jack Resneck Jr., the president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement that Kacsmaryk’s ruling ‘flies in the face of science and evidence and threatens to upend access to a safe and effective drug.
The court’s disregard for well-established scientific facts in favor of speculative allegations and ideological assertions will cause harm to our patients and undermines the health of the nation.’” Rival medication abortion rulings hypercharge the post-Roe legal war over the procedure, CNN Politics, Tierney Sneed
“So much for “leave it up to the states…….””
Did anyone for one second believe that claim? It is not about protecting the “unborn” the same people that support this ruling also fight to prevent expanded health care access and maternity/paternity leave for these same children. I won’t even go into their support for more access to firearms. This is simply an attempt to force religious and ideological beliefs on the rest of the country.
At this time they are winning because we allowed a complete moron to occupy the White House for four years because some people were not enthused enough about Hillary Clinton and now the nation for the next few decades will be forced to live with the consequences.
I am mostly mad because my children will have to live in this regressive society.
Big Pharma should take note: if one religious nutball can outlaw one drug, they can all be outlawed …
i figure that that all drugs no matter when they were approved, might end up being not being able prescribed since there is a law that Congress passed years ago that requires all drugs to be the FDA approved before they can be uses. not so sure that the same isnt true for food too
Kind of a tangent, but FDA related, so I’ll go with it. Brother-in-law was at clinic last week and told his Pfizer COVID booster was still being provided under Emergency Use Authorization. Sure enough, the EUA was reissued March 14, 2023. But the vaccine has also been fully approved by the FDA now a long time ago. He walked out when nobody could really answer why the vaccine got approved but they want to give it to him under EUA terms. What’s up?
Eric
Not sure I can answer. Have to look around for an answer.