HOUSTON, Texas — Abortion rights advocates are sounding the alarm over a Texas lawsuit they stated might limit entry to the abortion pill throughout the nation – even in states the place abortion is authorized.
More than half of all abortions carried out within the U.S. are performed by means of treatment.
Some advocates for reproductive rights stated this resolution might have extra of an affect than the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
It’s a two-pill course of accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration 22 years in the past. Mifepristone taken together with misoprostol can induce an abortion, however now, anti-abortion advocates are attempting to reverse that FDA ruling.
“The FDA never had the authority to approve these drugs in the first place,” Julie Marie Blake, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, said.
Alliance Defending Freedom is the group that filed a lawsuit in Texas against the FDA, seeking to undo the ruling. They argued the drugs are harmful and believe there should be safeguards for their use.
“It’s all about protecting women and girls from the harms of these drugs if they’re taking them all alone, on their own from online with no one there, making sure they’re being taken care of during this process,” Blake said.
But as an abortion doctor at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in Houston, Dr. Bhavik Kumar said he prescribed this medicine to thousands of patients back when it was legal in Texas.
“Mifepristone is completely safe. It’s one of the safest medications that I can give a patient,” Dr. Kumar said. “It is extremely safe, it is extremely effective. And again, we’ve had it approved in this country for over 20 years. And more than 5 million people have used it. We know a lot about how to use this medication and those claims are just completely inaccurate.”
But secure or not, that’s now as much as a conservative-leaning federal decide in Texas to determine.
The lawsuit is searching for an injunction on the drug, which might ban its use, not simply in Texas, however throughout the nation – even in states the place abortion is authorized.
If the injunction is granted, the FDA would nonetheless be capable of attraction that call.
“But that call goes to go to one of many nation’s extra conservative intermediate appellate courts, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, after which it might go to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court would have discretion whether or not to take it, and all of that takes time,” University of Houston legislation professor Seth Chandler stated.
Time – which might imply months and even years – that this drug could be banned.
Abortion rights advocates concern it gained’t cease there.
“They’re not going to cease till abortion is banned in the entire nation and being in a blue state just isn’t going to save lots of you,” Delma Catalina Limones with AVOW Texas stated.
That federal decide might make his resolution any day.
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