A federal judge in Texas (USA) issued a ruling on Friday revoking the nationwide approval of the abortion pill mifespristone.
Federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk today ordered that the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of the drug in 2000 be rescinded.
The ruling, however, gives the legal representatives of the Joe Biden government a period of one week to appeal the decision.
In the court text, the judge alleges that the FDA violated due process in approving mifepristone and failed to take into account the drug's "negative impact" on the health of people who take it.
"The FDA completely failed to address an important aspect of the problem by omitting any evaluation of the drug's psychological effects or an evaluation of the drug's long-term medical consequences," Judge Kacsmaryk wrote in the document.
The FDA gave mifepristone its approval as an abortion method in 2000. Along with misoprostol, the two drugs are known as the "abortion pill," or medical abortion.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who has championed the cause of reproductive rights in the Biden administration, said the court decision sets a "dangerous precedent."
"It is contrary to good public policy to allow the courts and politicians to tell the FDA what to do," Harris told reporters in Tennessee, according to US media reports.
Planned Parenthood, the largest network of reproductive services clinics in the US, rejected the ruling in a statement, saying it was an "unprecedented and profoundly damaging move."
"Today's decision by a judge in Texas to block FDA approval of mifepristone is outrageous and reveals how the court system is being used as a weapon to further restrict abortion nationwide," said the president of the organization in a statement.
For its part, the conservative organization Alliance Defending Freedom, which filed the lawsuit from which this ruling emanates, hailed the measure as an "important victory" for doctors and medical associations who opposed FDA approval.
"By illegally approving dangerous abortion drugs, the FDA has put women and girls at risk, and it is time the agency is held accountable for its reckless actions," the organization said in a statement.
Since the US Supreme Court reversed the Roe v. Wade, who protected abortion access nationwide in June of last year, the use of these two pills has increased, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute.
According to the report of this organization, medical abortions represented 54% of all abortions in the country in 2022.
New York will continue to make medical abortion easier, Gov. Kathy Hochul said after learning of today's decision by a Texas federal judge revoking the nationwide approval of the abortion pill mifespristone.
Hochul said she was "appalled" by the ruling against the use of a drug that is "safe and effective" and that she said has been used by more than five million women since its use was approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) more than two decades ago.
"Regardless of today's ruling, abortion access and care is still available in New York. Anyone in need of care our state will welcome with open arms," she said in a statement.
The Democratic governor also indicated that she asked the legislature to consider actions to protect abortion with other medications, including misoprostol, during the budget negotiations.
For his part, the mayor of the city, Eric Adams, considers that this is a "cruel and inhumane" decision from a court "bent on trampling the law, not on defending it."
"Today's ruling by another appointee of (former President) Donald Trump could make it even more difficult for people to access an abortion, even here in New York City, and is a clear act of war against women," she said. .
He assured that his administration "will fight to stop efforts to control women's bodies, their choices and their freedoms" and that if the decision prevails, public hospitals will continue to make abortion accessible by switching to a misoprostol treatment regimen to comply with the law.
