“My administration will fight this ruling,” said US President Joe Biden on Saturday, after a federal judge in Texas ordered a hold on the approval of the abortion medicine, mifepristone.
Notably, this move has now sparked the question of how the people of the United States will access the most common method of abortion. The medication for abortion has been widely used in the US since 2000, and this is the first time that a judge has ordered the Food and Drug Administration to halt the approval of abortion drugs.
Out of the two popular drugs that are used for medication abortion in the United States, Mifepristone is one of the most widely used, with the other being Misoprostol, which is used to treat pregnancy and other health-related issues.
Biden admin to fight Texas judge’s decision on Mifepristone
On Saturday, Biden said, “the only way to stop those who are committed to taking away women’s rights and freedoms in every state is to elect a Congress who will pass a law restoring Roe versus Wade,” he further added saying “Vice President Harris and I will continue to lead the fight to protect a woman’s right to an abortion, and to make her own decisions about her own health.”
US District Judge Matthew J Kacsmaryk directed FDA to keep mifepristone’s approval on hold while a lawsuit seeking to challenge the safety and approval of the drug continues. The judge asked the authorities to suspend the approval of chemical abortion drugs and remove them from the list of approved drugs. He imposed a stay or hold on approval of the drug.
According to reports, federal lawyers who will be representing the FDA before the court are expected to take time to appeal, as the federal government is granted seven days to appeal. Meanwhile, clinics and doctors have decided that if the usage of mifepristone is completely banned, they will start prescribing the second drug, misoprostol. Despite having a slightly lower rate of effectiveness in ending pregnancies, misoprostol is still widely used in countries where mifepristone is illegal or unavailable. The ban on abortion drugs is viewed as a direct attack on women’s right to choose.
What is Roe v Wade?
Roe v Wade is the 1973 US Supreme Court case that gave women the power to proceed with abortion in the United States. The legislation gave safe, legal abortion right nationwide for nearly 50 years after the court reversed its decision in June last year. Although the law allowed abortion, people never had access to it because lots of states had passed rules that made abortion an impossible task.
