The United States Department of Justice filed an appeal on Monday against the order of a federal judge in Texas that seeks to stop the commercialization of the abortion pill mifepristone throughout the country.
The Administration of President Joe Biden asked the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District, based in New Orleans (Louisiana), to stop the judge’s “extraordinary and unprecedented” decision against the abortion medication.
In the appeal, he defended that mifepristone is “a safe and effective treatment”, endorsed by the scientific community for decades.
The appeal was supported by the attorneys general of 24 states, led by New York, who sent the court a legal support document for the government and demanded that the order not be applied while that appeal is being processed.
The case began last Friday when Texas federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ordered the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to withdraw the health authorization for mifepristone, in force since 2000.
In the ruling, the judge alleges that the FDA violated proper procedure by giving its approval to mifepristone without regard to the “negative impact” of the drug in health.
Kacsmaryk, nominated by former Republican President Donald Trump (2017-2021), gave a week’s deadline for the order to come into force so that the government of Democrat Joe Biden has time to appeal it.
US Vice President Kamala Harris, who has championed the cause of reproductive rights in government, said Friday that the court decision sets a “dangerous precedent.”
For his part, Health Secretary Xavier Becerra promised on Sunday that the government will do “everything possible” to keep the pill accessible in the country, and did not rule out the possibility that the FDA would ignore the court order.
The United States has been experiencing a political and judicial battle over abortion since the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, struck down the constitutional right to abortion last June, after which dozens of states governed by Republicans have restricted this practice.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, 54% of pregnancy terminations in the United States in 2022 were with abortion pills like mifepristone or misoprostol.