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Protester Lindsay London outside the federal court in Amarillo, Texas in March, where a ruling has now put an end to the abortion drug mifepristone.
1 of 2 Photo: David Erickson/AP/TT
After two different court decisions on an abortion drug that has been used for over 20 years in the United States, the future of the drug is uncertain. President Joe Biden has gotten into the game, promising to fight to keep the pill.
Conservative Texas federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled Friday to put an end to the widely used abortion drug mifepristone. Kacsmaryk’s decision came after a number of anti-abortion groups filed a lawsuit to have the national approval of the drug overturned.
Just an hour after the announcement in Texas, a federal judge in Washington issued a competing ruling, ordering continued access to the drug in 17 US states.
Mifepristone has been approved in the United States for more than 20 years and is used in a majority of abortions in the country. The two rival rulings make it likely that the question of the pill’s future will now be taken to the US Supreme Court.
Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision to halt approval of the pill does not take effect for seven days. The US Department of Justice stated on Friday that it has appealed the decision, as has the US FDA.
US President Joe Biden calls the Texas judge’s decision regarding the abortion pill “an unprecedented step towards depriving women of their basic freedoms and putting their health at risk”.
“My administration will fight this decision,” Biden said in a White House statement.
Facts
Mifepristone
Mifepristone is an anti-hormone that inhibits the effect of progesterone, which is necessary for a pregnancy to progress. The drug is prescribed by doctors to medically terminate a pregnancy.
In the United States, mifepristone, also known as RU 486, is one of two permitted components used to induce abortion during the first ten weeks of pregnancy. The drug was approved in the USA in 2000.
More than half of all abortions in the United States are performed with mifepristone, according to official figures. The method is documented to be safe and has an efficiency of 99.6 percent.
The drug combination mifepristone and misoprostol is approved in over 60 countries worldwide to terminate pregnancies, including Sweden.
Source: Fass, FDA.
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