The abortion drug was approved by the FDA in 2000.
The Department of Justice filed an appeal this week, requesting that the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals review a Texas judge’s decision to suspend the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the abortion drug mifepristone.
Mifepristone is used orally to terminate pregnancies within 10 weeks of germination and has been reviewed by the FDA four separate times since its initial approval. The use of mifepristone accounts for more than half of all abortions in the United States.
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled on Friday that the FDA exceeded its authority and relied on “plainly unsound reasoning” when the agency initially approved the drug in 2000. In their filing, the Justice Department said that Judge Kacsmaryk’s decision “upended decades of reliance by blocking FDA’s approval of mifepristone and depriving patients of access to this safe and effective treatment, based on the court’s own misguided assessment of the drug’s safety.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For U.S. district court judges as they hear and decide cases brought before them.
- For DOJ officials as they appeal the halt to the prescription of abortion drugs.
- For the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals as they consider the DOJ’s appeal.
Sources: Reuters, AP
