The US Department of Justice on Monday filed an emergency motion asking a federal appeals court to block a conservative judge’s ruling last week that could restrict access nationwide to the abortion pill mifepristone.
US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, based in Texas, on Friday decided to suspend the approval of mifepristone (RU 486), one of two pills used for abortions. Kacsmaryk said he was giving the federal authorities a week to appeal the decision, which marked another success for conservatives in restricting access to abortion in the United States.
The decision has been celebrated by anti-abortion groups but has drawn strong condemnation from family planning advocates, who point out that it would adversely affect the some 500,000 women who use the abortion pill each year.
Decision would revoke basic freedoms enjoyed by women, Biden notes
It was also criticised by the administration of US President Joe Biden, who pledged on Saturday to fight the ruling, arguing in a statement that it would take away “basic freedoms from women” and put their health at risk.
In a statement on Monday, the Department of Justice warned that Kacsmaryk’s order, if it takes effect, would “thwart FDA’s scientific judgment and severely harm women” nationwide.
In his 67-page ruling, Judge Kacsmaryk, who is known for his ultraconservative views, validated most of the arguments contained in a complaint filed in November by a coalition of doctors and anti-abortion organisations against the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Like them, he cited studies on the risks attributed to the abortion pill, although these are considered negligible by the majority of the scientific community. He also accused the FDA of flouting its procedures in order to meet a political objective.
Weaponisation of the judicial system
America’s leading family planning organisation on Friday denounced the “deeply damaging” suspension of the approval of mifepristone.
“The judge’s decision in Texas today blocking the approval of mifepristone is an outrage and exposes the weaponisation of our judicial system to further restrict abortion nationwide,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.
“We should all be enraged that one judge can unilaterally reject medical evidence and overrule the FDA’s approval of a medication that has been safely and effectively used for more than two decades,” Ms. McGill Johnson added.
“This decision could threaten the FDA’s role in this country’s public health system, and — if allowed to stand — will have broad and unprecedented consequences that reach far beyond abortion,” she stressed.
Case expected to reach the US Supreme Court
Once the US government appeals the court’s decision, it will then be examined as a matter of urgency by an appeals court in New Orleans, also known for its conservatism. The case should therefore quickly end up before the US Supreme Court.
In June, the Court, which was radically overhauled by Donald Trump, gave a historic victory to opponents of abortion by removing the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy, thus giving each state the freedom to legislate on the matter.
Since then, some 15 states have banned abortions on their soil.
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