April 7 (UPI) — A Texas federal judge sided with anti-abortion groups on Friday and suspended the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, said the FDA rushed the approval process for the abortion drug, which has been on the market for more than two decades.
The government has seven days to appeal and seek emergency relief.
“The court does not second-guess FDA’s decision-making lightly,” Kacsmaryk said. “But here, FDA acquiesced on its legitimate safety concerns — in violation of its statutory duty — based on plainly unsound reasoning and studies that did not support its conclusions.”
The drug was approved in 2000 and is intended for use in abortions up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy. Mifepristone is also used by OB-GYNs to manage early miscarriages.
The lawsuit initially was filed in November by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group that has helped states author anti-abortion laws.
Kacsmaryk accused the FDA of stonewalling judicial challenges to the drug.
“Why did it take two decades for judicial review in federal court? After all, plaintiffs’ petitions challenging the 2000 approval date back to the year 2002, right? Simply put, FDA stonewalled judicial review — until now,” he wrote.
According to The Hill, legal experts have said that the argument was purely political and had no merit, but the lawsuit was strategically filed in the Northern District of Texas, where it would come up for a hearing before Kacsmaryk.