According to court documents, the US Food and Drug Administration filed an appeal on Friday against a federal judge’s ruling that reversed the approval of a safe and effective abortion pill.
A federal judge in the U.S. state of Texas overturned the pill’s approval from two decades ago, the latest salvo in the conservative war against reproductive rights in the U.S. According to court documents, the FDA’s notice of appeal was filed on Friday in Texas and signed by agency attorneys.
In a media release by FDA, “The FDA has filed an appeal of this ruling. FDA approved Mifeprex more than two decades ago based on a comprehensive review of the available scientific evidence and a determination that it was safe and effective for its indicated use, which is medical termination of early pregnancy. “
As per NDTV, if upheld, the ruling by an appointee of former US president Donald Trump would reverse FDA approval for mifepristone, a drug that has been widely used to terminate unwanted pregnancies for over two decades.
On Friday, President Joe Biden announced that the Department of Justice had also filed an appeal and vowed to “fight this ruling.” In a statement, he described the lawsuit and the ruling as “another unprecedented step in stripping women of fundamental liberties and putting their health at risk.”
Friday, moments after the ruling in Texas, a judge in Washington state ruled in a separate case that access to the drug must be maintained in over a dozen states. Due to the conflicting legal opinions, it is almost certain that the issue will end up before the Supreme Court, which exemplifies how deeply abortion divides U.S. society.
The conservative-dominated panel overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which had upheld a woman’s right to abortion for fifty years, last year.
