EXTREMIST TRUMP JUDGE’S LAWLESS ABORTION RULING PUTS HEALTH AND RIGHTS IN DANGER

(April 7, 2023) — Today, federal judges in Washington and Texas issued conflicting orders for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the status of the medication mifepristone. The United States District Court for the District of Eastern Washington preliminarily enjoined the FDA from “altering the status or rights of the parties under the operative Mifepristone REMS Program.” Meanwhile Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a radical Trump appointee known for being the object right-wing of judge shopping, ordered the FDA to ban the medication but stayed that order seven days. In response, Take Back the Court issued the following statement on behalf of its president, Sarah Lipton-Lubet:

“Overturning Roe was always just the tip of the iceberg in the right’s judicial crusade against the freedom to access health care and abortion and exercise bodily autonomy. Today’s conflicting rulings on mifepristone represent exactly the kind of unnecessary confusion that was bound to follow the Supreme Court’s Republican majority upending decades of settled law.

“While it will take time to sort out the rulings and next steps, three things are as true tonight as they were yesterday: Matthew Kascmaryk is a political hack who has no business in a federal courtroom, let alone as a judge. Mifepristone remains safe, legal, effective, and available. And decisions about drug safety should be made by medical experts, not by politicians masquerading as jurists.”

For two decades, mifepristone has been an essential element of timely, affordable, and effective abortion care. More than half of abortions in the U.S. are medication abortions. Judge Kacsmaryk’s attack comes amid an even broader national assault on abortion care — including attacks targeting medication abortion. In fact, Guttmacher Institute reports that last year alone, state lawmakers introduced 118 restrictions on medication abortions across 22 different state legislatures.

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