Aljazeera reported that a federal judge in Texas has temporarily withdrawn approval for the use of mifepristone, one of two pills used for medication abortions, in a ruling set to have widespread impacts on reproductive healthcare across the United States.
In a victory for anti-abortion advocates, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a 67-page ruling placing a stay on the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone, which would render sales of the widely used drug illegal.
The decision gives the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden seven days to appeal before the temporary ban goes into effect.
Kacsmaryk’s decision is considered to be the first instance of a single judge overruling the medical authority of the FDA. Shortly after the injunction was announced, a judge in Washington state, Thomas O Rice, issued another ruling that would block “any action to remove mifepristone from the market”.
The withdrawal of mifepristone’s FDA approval comes at the request of plaintiffs in a Texas case, a coalition of anti-abortion medical providers called the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine.
They filed a preliminary injunction to remove mifepristone from the market, as they pursue a lawsuit that alleges the FDA was wrong to approve the drug over two decades ago.
