A Texas federal judge on Friday announced the suspension of the marketing authorization in the United States of mifepristone, one of two pills used for abortions, effectively preventing its prescription.
However, District Magistrate Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, appointed by the former Donald Trump administration, gave federal authorities one week to appeal the decision.
The failed drug has been widely used in the United States since 2000, and there is essentially no precedent for a judge to single-handedly override medical decisions made by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Mifepristone is one of two drugs used in the United States for medical abortion, along with misoprostol.
The judge ordered the FDA to withhold approval of mifepristone pending a lawsuit challenging the drug’s safety and approval, but the impact is unclear.
The magistrate did not go as far as prosecutors had intended, withdrawing or suspending the approval of chemical abortion drugs and removing them from the list of permitted drugs.
Clinics and doctors who prescribe the combination of the two drugs said that if mifepristone was taken off the market, they would switch to using just the second drug, misoprostol.
This single-drug approach has slightly lower effectiveness in terminating a pregnancy, but is widely used in countries where mifepristone is illegal or unavailable.
Mifepristone is part of a two-drug regimen that has long been the standard for medical abortion in the United States.
Source: DN
