The Department of Justice has filed an appeal against the decision of a Texas magistrate to suspend approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.
Attorneys for the Biden administration stated that last week’s “misguided” ruling jeopardised the health of women by restricting access to a drug that has been deemed safe for decades.
The magistrate in Texas halted the drug’s approval last week, but gave the government seven days to file an appeal.
Pill abortions have been legal in the United States for over 20 years.
The dispute is likely to reach the Supreme Court, casting doubt on the availability of the substance for millions of women.
The legal confrontation could be the most devastating setback to abortion access since the nation’s highest court ruled last summer that there is no constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.
The medication is currently available.
On Monday, the Department of Justice filed an emergency motion seeking to temporarily halt a ruling from last Friday in Amarillo, Texas.
The attorneys for the Biden administration have requested a ruling by April 13, one day before the lower court’s ruling takes effect.
The government stated that the Texas ruling was “particularly unwarranted” because it would undermine the scientific judgement of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is responsible for approving medications in the United States.
If granted, the government’s motion would preserve mifepristone’s approval until the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals hears an appeal.
Georgetown University professor of global health law Lawrence Gostin told the BBC, “This is such a poorly reasoned decision that I would hope the Fifth Circuit would promptly stay the injunction and ultimately – on the merits – overturn the Texas decision.
“However, this is not a certainty. This is likely the most conservative appellate court in the United States, so it is possible that they will uphold the [Texas] ruling.”
Professor Gostin added, “If the FDA cannot approve this substance, I’m not sure what it can approve.” It has been on the market for over two decades, and its health and safety record is impeccable.
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Legal experts predict that if the Department of Justice loses this emergency motion, known as a stay, its attorneys will take the case to the conservative-dominated Supreme Court within hours.
Mifepristone is one of two medications used to induce abortions.
The pill effectively terminates the pregnancy, while misoprostol empties the uterus.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal advocacy organisation that represented plaintiffs in the Texas lawsuit, argued that the FDA ignored the potential effects of mifepristone on the developing bodies of adolescent females during its four-year approval process.
Erin Hawley, the organization’s senior counsel, stated on Monday, “By illegally approving dangerous chemical abortion drugs and imposing its mail-order abortion regime, the FDA placed women in danger, and the agency should be held accountable for its irresponsible actions.
Pregnancy is not a disease, and chemical abortion medications have no therapeutic value.
Mifepristone is deemed secure and effective by mainstream medical organisations such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the World Health Organization.
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas ruled on Friday that the FDA’s 2000 approval of mifepristone was invalid.
In a 67-page opinion, the Trump appointee ruled that the FDA had violated federal regulations allowing for expedited drug approval.
However, just 18 minutes after the Texas ruling, another Obama-appointed federal judge in Washington state ordered that access to mifepristone be maintained in 17 liberal states.
The injunction in the Washington case applies to 17 states, while the injunction in the Texas case applies to 50 states, according to William Eskridge, a law professor at Yale University.
This puts significant pressure on the Supreme Court to review [the case] as quickly as possible.
More than 300 pharmaceutical executives, including Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, demanded the reversal of the Texas decision on Monday, calling it a “decision to ignore science.”
