The Justice Department filed an immediate appeal following a Texas federal judge’s shocking decision Friday to withdraw the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medical abortion.
The Justice Department appealed directly to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit late Friday, hours after the original ruling.
This was stated by US Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement that the DOJ “strongly disagrees with the decision” and “will appeal the court’s decision and seek a stay pending appeal.”
“Today’s decision overturns the FDA’s expert judgment, issued more than two decades ago, that mifepristone is safe and effective,” Garland wrote. “The department will continue to defend the FDA’s decision.”
US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that the FDA’s approval of mifepristone was illegal when the drug was first put on the market in 2000. chemical abortions on a large scale’.
The ruling does not take effect for seven days, allowing the DOJ’s appeal to proceed.
Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group, filed a lawsuit in November in federal court in Amarillo, Texas, alleging that the FDA overstepped its authority 22 years ago and rushed to approve mifepristone. But the medical abortion, the combination of mifepristone and another drug called misoprostol, has a history of being extremely safe and effective in the more than 20 years it’s been FDA-approved. Medical abortion accounts for nearly 60% of all abortion and miscarriage care in the United States.
A federal judge in Washington state on Friday issued a concurrent ruling that prevents the FDA from withdrawing approval of mifepristone in 17 states and the District of Columbia. The two decisions will likely force the US Supreme Court to intervene quickly, legal researchers supposed
Garland said in his statement Friday that the DOJ is also reviewing the Washington state judge’s decision.
While there is a lot of confusion about the Texas judge’s decision and what happens next, it is certain that this is a major blow to abortion rights across the country.
Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement late Friday that the decision was an “unprecedented decision.”
“Simply put: This decision undermines the FDA’s ability to approve safe and effective drugs — from chemotherapy drugs to asthma drugs, blood pressure pills to insulin — based on science, not politics,” he wrote.
“Every person in our nation should have the right to access safe and effective medicines that have been approved by the FDA. In the face of attacks on a woman’s right to access an abortion, our administration will continue to fight to protect reproductive freedom and the ability of all Americans to make health care decisions with their doctors without political interference.”
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