WASHINGTON— A federal appeals court ruled that the abortion pill mifepristone can still be used for now but restored restrictions on the drug in a decision that the Justice Department said Thursday it would swiftly challenge at the Supreme Court.
(Click below to watch the Task Force meeting)
At stake in an accelerating legal battle that began in Texas is nationwide access to the most common method of abortion in the U.S., less than a year after the reversal of Roe v. Wade prompted more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright.
Vice President Harris was quick to criticize the decision. In a statement from her office she wrote, "Last night, the Fifth Circuit issued a decision which invalidates the scientific, independent judgment of the FDA about when and how a medicine is available to Americans. The Justice Department has already announced that they are seeking emergency relief from the Supreme Court."
"More than 20 years ago, the FDA approved medication abortion as safe and effective for the American people. Last week, a Texas district court ruled to block access to this medication in every state in the country."
"The Fifth Circuit’s decision—just like the district court’s—second-guesses the agency’s medical experts. If this decision stands, no medication—from chemotherapy drugs, to asthma medicine, to blood pressure pills, to insulin—would be safe from attacks. This decision threatens the rights of Americans across the country, who can look in their medicine cabinets and find medication prescribed by a doctor because the FDA engaged in a process to determine the efficacy and safety of that medication."
"This lawsuit is the next step to a nationwide abortion ban. The decision severely limits access to mifepristone, standing between doctors and their patients. President Biden and our Administration remain firmly committed to protecting access to medication abortion, as the President and I have made clear since the day of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs."
"There is a reproductive health care crisis in America. Our Administration will continue fighting to protect women’s health and the right to make decisions about one’s own body."
In a ruling late Wednesday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans temporarily narrowed a ruling by a lower court judge in Texas that had completely blocked the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone. But a divided three-judge panel still reduced the period of pregnancy when the drug can be taken and said it could not be dispensed by mail.
The ruling preventing the pill from being sent by mail amounts to another significant constraint of abortion access and was cheered by opponents of the drug. The Justice Department said it would ask the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency order to put any action on hold.