Abortion pill under threat in Texas court case

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk appears sympathetic to arguments put forward by plaintiffs targeting prescription drug mifepristone.

Abortion rights adovcates gather outside the federal court in Amarillo. Picture: AFP

A US federal judge with longstanding ties to conservative religious groups questioned overnight on Wednesday the unprecedented nature of a suit asking him to issue a national ban on a widely used abortion pill.

However, during a high-stakes hearing in his Texas courtroom, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk appeared sympathetic to some of the arguments put forward by plaintiffs targeting prescription drug mifepristone.

The suit against the Food and Drug Administration is the latest step in the campaign to win a total ban on abortion following a Supreme Court ruling last year overturning Roe vs Wade. It takes aim at a pill involved in 53 per cent of all abortions in the US, or more than half a million every year.

While the FDA has not been challenged like this before on its approval of a drug that has proven safe and effective, the plaintiffs – a coalition of anti-abortion groups – believe they can win a national freeze on distribution of mifepristone.

Reproductive rights activists, who were briefed on Wednesday’s hearing from someone who listened in, acknowledged the real possibility the judge would order the drug be taken off the market.

“We can expect the worst and I think we need to be prepared for that,” said Wendy Davis, a senior advisor to Planned Parenthood Texas Votes.

Presiding over the federal court case in Amarillo, Texas, Judge Kacsmaryk was appointed to the bench by Donald Trump. The judge is a conservative Christian with a history of opposition to abortion and a court record of favouring right-wing causes.

The case landed in his court via “judge-shopping,” in which plaintiffs take legal action in a district where the judge has a history of rulings that support their case. Federal judges in the US have a right to issue rulings that carry national legal force.

It is not clear when Judge Kacsmaryk will make his decision but if he rules in favour of the plaintiffs, the US government is widely expected to appeal.

One component of a two-drug regimen used for medication abortion, mifepristone can be used in the US during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. It has a long safety record and the FDA estimates 5.6 million Americans have used it to terminate pregnancies since it was approved.

But the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian advocacy group, sued the FDA, saying the approval of mifepristone “disavow(ed)” science, “ignored” potential health impacts and “disregarded” complications that can arise with its use.

“The FDA failed America’s women and girls when it chose politics over science and approved chemical abortion drugs for use in the US,” it said.

The FDA has urged the judge to reject the request. “The public interest would be dramatically harmed by effectively withdrawing from the marketplace a safe and effective drug that has lawfully been on the market for 22 years,” it said.

The plaintiffs urged Judge Kacsmaryk to act swiftly, either by suspending or withdrawing the medication. Lawyer Erik Baptist said harmful effects of such drugs “know no bounds” and “time cannot be lost,” CNN reported.

About 15 states already restrict access to mifepristone by requiring a physician to provide it, reproductive health policy and research group Guttmacher Institute says. Abortion care has halted in another 13 states after the Supreme Court overturned the long-established constitutional right last June.

The Texas suit seeks to block mifepristone nationally by overturning FDA approval of the drug, and asks Judge Kacsmaryk to first suspend the approval via injunction – an effective ban – while the lawsuit proceeds through court.

Abortion rights groups say a ruling blocking mifepristone would be as consequential as the Supreme Court’s ruling last July.

AFP