A federal judge in Amarillo could soon rule on a case that aims to block access to a drug used in abortions. Right now, mifepristone and misoprostol are often used together.
The two drugs used together are considered more than 98% effective. More than half of abortions in the U.S. are carried out using the two drugs.
A group in Texas, Alliance Defending Freedom, sued in November. In the lawsuit, the group argues, "the FDA failed America’s women and girls when it chose politics over science and approved chemical abortion drugs for use in the United States. And it has continued to fail them by repeatedly removing even the most basic precautionary requirements associated with their use."
The lawsuit says the only way the FDA could have approved the drug was by declaring pregnancy an "illness" and the drugs would provide a "meaningful therapeutic benefit."
"But pregnancy is not an illness, nor do chemical abortion drugs provide a therapeutic benefit over surgical abortion," the suit reads. "In asserting these transparently false conclusions, the FDA exceeded its regulatory authority to approve the drugs."
Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris met with doctors at the White House and said the Biden Administration would "push back" on the ability to use the two drugs together.
"There are now partisan and political attacks attempting to question the legitimacy of a group of scientists and doctors who have studied the significance of this drug,” she said. “There is now an attempt by politicians to remove it from the ability of doctors to prescribe and the ability of people to receive."
Physicians for Reproductive Health says some countries already use misoprostol alone for abortions. Advocates for abortion access say the two drugs together are 98% effective, but they say misoprostol alone is only 95% effective.
When Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk rules, the case could be appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and then the U.S. Supreme Court.
If access is blocked, the FDA could also restart the approval process.
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