The conservative Federal appeals Court in New Orleans seems ready to limit access to America’s most popular abortifacient pill. This drug was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration over 23 years ago.
The three-judge panel heard arguments Wednesday from attorneys representing the U.S. Justice Department and the drug’s manufacturer, Danco Laboratories, who asserted that mifepristone, one of two drugs used in 50% of the country’s medicine abortions, should remain widely available.
At the outset of a two-hour hearing, the judges pushed back against those arguments.
Seconds into a presentation by Justice Department lawyer Sarah Harrington, she was interuppted by Judge James Ho, a Donald Trump appointee, who criticized her characterization of the case as “an unprecedented and unjustified attack on FDA scientific expertise.”
“The court has heard many other cases against FDA,” he said.
“I hate to cut you off so early, but you’ve said unprecedented. We had a challenge to the FDA just yesterday,” Ho said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit will decide whether or not to confirm the ruling of a Texas Federal Judge who ruled in April that the FDA approval of this drug was invalid.
Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans, hears Texas appeals.
Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA has been dubbed as one of most important legal cases concerning abortion rights in the United States since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion.
This could have a drastic impact on medication abortions in all states, including those where abortion is permitted.
In November, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM) is a group of conservative anti-abortion physicians who sued FDA at a federal court in Texas. The plaintiffs argued the agency used an incorrect process to approve mifepristone, and claimed the pills are unsafe. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs demanded that the mifepristone be removed from the market.
A series of court rulings followed the Texas ruling in April, deeming government approval invalid. The issue eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court which allowed full access to this drug as the appeals process continued.
It is possible that the case will end up in front of the highest court.
In filings with the court, the FDA stated that the drug was safe and reliable.
“Americans have been safely using mifepristone for over two decades. “More than five millions women in the United States and around the globe have used mifepristone for termination of pregnancy,” said the agency.
The FDA stated that “study after study shows that severe adverse events are extremely rare.”
New Orleans’ court has now begun to deliberate the case, and it could make a decision at any moment.