ZTwo judges on Thursday heralded a further stage in the American dispute over access to abortions. Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk has asked the FDA to overturn the approval of the drug mifepristone. In his decision, he gave the authority seven days to appeal. His preliminary ruling would affect access to the drug not just in Texas, but throughout the United States. Hours later, Washington State Judge Thomas Rice ruled that the FDA should not do anything of the sort. He judged that unrestricted access to mifepristone should be ensured. It should therefore be almost certain that the dispute over the drug will end up before the US Supreme Court in the foreseeable future.
In June of last year, this repealed the nationwide right to abortion. As a result, several conservative states passed restrictive laws banning most or all of abortion. The verdict was grist to the mill of anti-abortion activists who had been working towards such a decision for decades.
The lawsuit in Texas is also related to this. In fact, more than half of all abortions in the United States are not performed through surgery, but through drugs. Mifepristone – known in Germany under the name Mifegyne – is used up to the twelfth week of pregnancy and the FDA relaxed the restrictions a little this year. Pharmacies can now also send the drug by post. The Texas judge also objected. He referred to a 150-year-old law that bans the mailing of “agents” that can cause abortion.
However, mifepristone is only one of the two drugs used in abortion. It blocks the release of the hormone progesterone, which is essential for maintaining pregnancy. Then the drug misoprostol is taken, which causes contractions to allow the fetus to pass out.
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Although the effectiveness of the combined intake is higher and the side effects are fewer, misoprostol is also used alone for abortion in many regions of the world. Therefore, access to medical abortion in the United States is guaranteed until further notice. Some suppliers have told American media in response to the Texas decision that they would simply use misoprostol alone.
The conservative group Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented anti-abortion medical organizations and four doctors who had treated patients with mifepristone, had sued in Texas. She cited studies that showed women complained of bleeding and cramps after taking the drug. However, the lawyers for the defendants pointed out that this was completely normal. Judge Kacsmaryk followed the plaintiffs’ arguments and accused the FDA of being sloppy in approving the drug. “Additionally, there is evidence to suggest that the FDA has faced political pressure to disregard its safety regulations in order to do this political to advance the goal of expanded ‘access’ to chemical abortion” (emphasis in original), wrote Kacsmaryk, a well-known conservative Christian and anti-abortionist.
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