By Erin Delaney
On Friday, a Trump-appointed Texas District Court judge unsurprisingly ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to take back its approval of mifepristone, a drug for inducing abortions, used safely in this country for 23 years. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk also put a weeklong stay as part of his ruling, making mifepristone still available in all states at this time, unless his ruling stands. Nonetheless, last Friday’s ruling in Amarillo by Judge Kacsmaryk in Amarillo is shockingly dangerous.
Not only does it abet the drive by Republican extremists to strip Americans of their reproductive rights, it sets a terrible precedent in which activist right-wing judges overrule the nation’s top health authorities for purely ideological reasons. Judge Kacsmaryk’s atrocious ruling hits a MAGA trifecta — at once undermining personal liberty, medical science, and the Constitution’s separation of powers.
Prior to his appointment to the federal bench, Judge Kacsmaryk was a fixture of the radical right known for his attacks on contraception, abortion, gay marriage and protections for LGBTQ people. Although he promised in his Senate confirmation to set aside his personal views, there’s little evidence of a judicial temperament in his mifepristone ruling.
At the same time on Friday afternoon as his decision was released, Judge Thomas Rice from the U.S. District Court of Eastern District of Washington came out with a ruling challenging the FDA’s decision to impose restrictions on mifepristone prescribing and dispensing through the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation System (REMS) and that the restrictions imposed by the FDA are unnecessary and limit access. This ruling orders the FDA to maintain access to mifepristone in 17 states and Washington, D.C. Almost immediately after Judge Kacsmaryk’s decision, the Department of Justice filed a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to request a stay while this appeal is considered to maintain access to mifepristone. If this stay is not granted by the 5th Circuit, then the FDA will likely appeal to the Supreme Court to block this ruling throughout the appeals process with the 5th Circuit. Unfortunately, if both courts do not provide a stay during the appeals process, then distribution of mifepristone could be halted across the country.