Texas judge sets hearing in case seeking to ban abortion pill nationwide
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[March 14, 2023]
By Brendan Pierson
(Reuters) - A hearing in a lawsuit by anti-abortion groups seeking to
ban the abortion pill mifepristone nationwide will take place on
Wednesday, with media groups pressing the judge for greater
transparency.
At Wednesday's hearing, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in
Amarillo will consider whether to temporarily halt all sales of the
drug, even in states where abortion remains legal, while their lawsuit
proceeds.
Legal experts have said the Texas lawsuit could be the most significant
national abortion case since the U.S. Supreme Court last year reversed
its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which had guaranteed abortion
rights nationwide. Mifepristone is part of the regimen in the U.S. for
medication abortions, which account for more than half of all abortions
in the country.
The Washington Post reported Saturday that Kacsmaryk had told lawyers in
the case Friday that he intended to hold the hearing but would delay
announcing it until Tuesday to avoid protests and disruptions.
Kacsmaryk's chambers did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Following that report, the feminist organization Women's March said it
was disturbing that the judge was trying "to hide this case from public
view" and announced they would organize a "snap protest" Wednesday.
"Public access to federal court proceedings is a key principle of the
American judiciary system," said Women's March Director Rachel O'Leary
Carmona in a statement.
A group of media organizations filed an objection, saying the alleged
delay by the judge was illegal and undermined "the important values
served by public access to judicial proceedings and court records."
The organizations include the non-profit legal group Reporters Committee
for Freedom of the Press, the Washington Post and Gannett Co, which owns
newspapers in Amarillo and elsewhere in the state.
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Dr. Shelly Tien hands a patient the
initial abortion inducing medication at Trust Women clinic in
Oklahoma City, U.S., December 6, 2021. Of the 20 abortions performed
that day, 17 of the patients came from Texas. Picture taken December
6, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Mifepristone, in combination with misoprostol, is approved by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration for medication abortion in the
first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
Anti-abortion groups including the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine
sued the FDA last November, claiming the agency used an improper
process to approve mifepristone in 2000 and did not adequately
consider its safety for minors.
The government, responding to the lawsuit, has said that the drug's
approval was well supported by science, and that the challenge, 22
years after the fact, comes much too late. Major medical
organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists, have also weighed in to support the government,
saying mifepristone "has been thoroughly studied and is conclusively
safe" and that banning it would harm patients by delaying abortions
and forcing them to have unnecessary surgical abortions.
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. His courthouse
has become a favored destination for Republicans seeking to
challenge aspects of Democratic President Joe Biden's agenda.
He is also presiding over a pending lawsuit accusing media
companies, including Reuters, of violating federal antitrust laws by
working with tech companies to censor information about COVID-19. A
Reuters spokesperson has denied the allegations.
(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York and Gabriella Borter in
Washington; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Lisa Shumaker)
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