Mifepristone

By Elby1124

  • Lawsuit against the FDA

    A group of pro-life doctors and organizations filed a lawsuit against the FDA claiming that they did not follow proper protocols when the drug was approved in the 2000s. The group claims that the FDA has also ignored the dangers of the drug in years since.

  • Opposing Case

    Less than an hour later, another federal judge Thomas O. Rice issued a contradictory ruling in Washington State in a different lawsuit. Judge Rice blocked the FDA from limiting the availability of mifepristone in much of the country. The Washington state lawsuit was filed by Democratic attorneys generals in 17 states and DC.

  • Judge Mattew J Kacsmaryk

    This lawsuit was filed in the Amarillo district of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas, where only one judge resides. The judge is Mattew J. Kacsmaryk. A long time opponent of the right to choose, Judge Kacsmaryk announced a preliminary ruling that would invalidate the FDA’s two-decade old approval of the drug. The judge gave the agency a week to seek emergency relief. He appeared to agree with almost all of the claims made by the anti-abortion groups.

  • Biden Administration appeals Texas ruling

    The Biden administration and mifepristone manufacturer Danco Laboratories appealed the Texas ruling and took it to the 5th Circuit.

  • 5th circuit’s decisionns

    The 5th Circuit made the decision to unapprove any pre-2016 rulings. Mifepristone defenders argued this would still have catastrophic effects. The main problem is the accessibility to abortion that mifepristone provides.

  • Back to 2016 rules

    Here’s what would the decision would change:
    - The drug would no longer by acessible by mail, and hence would require people to pick up the drug in person
    - The drug would go from having to be taken in the first 10 weeks to the first 7, reducing the number of in person clinic visits from three to one.
    - This would overturn the 2019 approval of the generic version of mifepristone.

  • Back to a three judge panel

    The case will head back to the federal appeals court. Back to a 3-judge panel in the 5th circuit.

  • Supreme Court’s reaction

    The Justices essentially blocked the Texas ruling. Women can continue to receive this pill in the mail and use it up to ten weeks in to pregnancy