Federal judges in two states issued contradictory decisions Friday night that could drastically impact access to a drug used in nearly all of the medication abortions in the U.S.
In Texas, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration improperly approved the drug mifepristone more than 20 years ago. He ordered to FDA to stay its approval and gave the government seven days to seek relief from an appeals court.
Kacsmaryk’s decision won’t just affect people living in states where abortion has become illegal or heavily restricted: because the case is in federal court, the judge has the ability to issue a nationwide ruling.
At the same time Friday, a federal judge’s ruling in a separate case in Washington state has blocked the FDA from “altering the status quo and rights as it relates to the availability of Mifepristone.”
That lawsuit filed by a coalition of Democratic attorneys general in 17 states and the District of Columbia sought to block the FDA from pulling the drug from the market.
Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson told NPR on Friday that he believes the judge’s decision could make it possible for patients in those states to continue using mifepristone for abortion in the short term — even after the federal judge’s decision in Texas takes effect in seven days.
It’s not clear how each judge’s decision will impact the other, and both cases are likely to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Justice Department is already appealing the Texas ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which has a reputation for being a conservative jurisdiction. In a…
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