The US government on Monday (April 10) asked a federal appeals court to guarantee access to the abortion pill in the United States, as long as the legal battle over its authorization continues. The “extraordinary and unprecedented ruling” by a federal court in Texas that suspended that authorization on Friday must “be stalled pending substantive review” of the case, the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden wrote in a statement. his appeal.
The American Medicines Agency (FDA) considered in 2000 that mifepristone (RU 486) was “safe and effective” for terminating a pregnancy and authorized its marketing, recalls the government. Since then, more than 5 million American women have used it and, when taken as directed, “serious side effects are extremely rare,” he said. The trial court decided to deny the patients “based on its own erroneous risk assessment,” he wrote.
The pill accounts for 53% of abortions
A coalition of abortion opponents filed a lawsuit in November against the FDA to challenge the marketing authorization for mifepristone. Strategically, they had filed their appeal in Amarillo, Texas, where the only federal judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, is known for his ultraconservative views.
On Friday, this magistrate agreed with them: considering, despite the scientific consensus, that mifepristone poses risks to the health of women, he suspended its authorization for the entire United States, pending an examination of the merits of the case. .
Anticipating his decision, a coalition of Democratic states had taken legal action at the end of February to try to preserve this pill which, taken in connection with misoprostol, today represents 53% of abortions in the United States.
One hour after Judge Kacsmaryk’s decision, his associate, Judge Thomas Rice, appointed by Barack Obama and sitting in the state of Washington, found that mifepristone was “safe and effective” and prohibited the FDA from withdraw its approval in the 17 States at the origin of the appeal. On Monday, the federal government sent “a request for clarification” to this judge as to how he should apply his decision, if Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling were allowed to take effect.
