U.S. groups suing to ban abortion pill lose bid for early trial
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[February 22, 2023]
By Brendan Pierson
(Reuters) - A Texas federal judge on Tuesday refused to set an
accelerated trial schedule for a lawsuit by anti-abortion groups seeking
to end U.S. sales of the abortion pill mifepristone, in a case that
could severely disrupt access to medication abortion nationwide.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo rejected the groups'
request to skip a hearing on whether to halt sales of the pill
temporarily until the case is fully heard and instead go straight to
trial. The Biden administration had opposed the request.
Anti-abortion groups including the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine
brought the case against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last
November, claiming the agency used an improper process to approve the
drug mifepristone in 2000 and did not adequately consider its safety for
minors.
Mifepristone is approved for medication abortion in the first 10 weeks
of pregnancy in combination with another drug, misoprostol. Medication
abortion accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Feb/22/images/ads/current/firststatemortgage_sda_020223.png)
Suing in Amarillo, where the Alliance had been incorporated three months
earlier, ensured that the case would go before Kacsmaryk, a reliable
conservative and former Christian activist.
The government has countered that the drug's approval was fully
supported by evidence, and that the challenge, 22 years after the fact,
comes much too late.
Medication abortion has drawn increasing attention since the U.S.
Supreme Court last year reversed its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling,
which had guaranteed abortion rights nationwide. President Joe Biden, a
Democrat, directed federal agencies to expand access to medication
abortion in response to the decision, which has allowed more than a
dozen Republican-led states to adopt new abortion bans.
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![](../images/022223PIX/health31.jpg)
A pack of Mifeprex pills, used to
terminate early pregnancies, is displayed in this picture
illustration taken May 11, 2022. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs/Illustration
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Feb/22/images/ads/current/heartland_lda_020123.png) The FDA said in a court filing last
month that the "public interest would be dramatically harmed" by
pulling mifepristone from the market, forcing women to have
unnecessary surgical abortions and greatly increasing wait times at
already overburdened clinics.
Major medical organizations, including the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists, last week weighed in on the side of
the government, saying mifepristone "has been thoroughly studied and
is conclusively safe."
State attorneys general have also submitted filings in the case,
with Democrats opposing the lawsuit and Republicans supporting it.
Mifepristone is also the subject of lawsuits in West Virginia and
North Carolina seeking to expand access to the drug by arguing that
state restrictions on it conflict with federal law.
(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York, Editing by Alexia
Garamfalvi and Bill Berkrot)
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