The future of the abortion pill in the United States will be played out Wednesday before a ultra-conservative judge who is being asked by anti-abortion advocates to suspend its drug agency approval 23 years ago.
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Matthew Kacsmaryk, who worked as an attorney for a Christian organization before being appointed federal judge by former Republican President Donald Trump, will hear the parties’ arguments in federal court in Amarillo, North Texas.
He will then be able to make his decision on the case at any time, which is likely to have as resounding an impact as the US Supreme Court’s ruling, which blasted abortion rights last June.
In November, a coalition of doctors and anti-abortion advocates sent him a complaint against the American Drug Administration (FDA), who accuse them of approving mifepristone (RU 486), one of the two tablets used for medical abortions, 23 years ago during pregnancy.
The plaintiffs allege that the FDA chose “politics over science” by approving a chemical product likely to cause complications and “exceeded its prerogatives.”
Pending consideration of the substantive arguments, they ask Judge Kacsmaryk to immediately suspend the approval of mifepristone in the United States.
Such a decision would be “devastating for women,” spokeswoman for the Bureau, Karine Jean-Pierre, denounced ten days ago.
Since 2000, more than 5.6 million women have used this pill in the United States, and a tiny proportion (less than 1,500) later had complications with no proven link, d’according to the FDA.
Today, the majority (53%) of abortions are medical, a less intrusive and less expensive procedure than surgical abortions.
Since the United States Supreme Court gave every state the freedom to legislate, about fifteen of them have banned abortion on their soil, and abortion pills are not legal there.
But pregnant women in those states can still travel to neighboring states to get the pills. Others receive them discreetly in the mail.