The abortion pill mifepristone is to remain available in the US while anti-abortion groups pursue a legal challenge seeking to ban it, but with significant restrictions, including a requirement for in-person physician visits to obtain the drug, a federal appeals court ruled late on Wednesday.
The New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals put on hold part of an order by US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, on Friday last week that had suspended the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the drug while the groups’ lawsuit is pending.
However, the appeals court declined to block portions of Kacsmaryk’s order, effectively reinstating restrictions on the pill’s distribution that had been lifted since 2016.
Photo: Reuters
The FDA and lawyers for the groups suing to block the drug could not immediately be reached for comment.
Kacsmaryk’s ruling apparently conflicts with a different federal judge’s decision, also issued on Friday last week, ordering the FDA to maintain access to mifepristone with no new restrictions in 17 states and the District of Columbia.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has asked the judge in that case to clarify his order in light of Kacsmaryk’s.
The lawsuit before Kacsmaryk was filed against the FDA in November last year by four anti-abortion groups, led by the recently formed Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and four anti-abortion doctors.
They contend the agency used an improper process when it approved mifepristone in 2000 and did not adequately consider the drug’s safety when used by girls under age 18 to terminate a pregnancy.
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