Judge hears case that could reverse abortion drug approval

Four doctors and four healthcare organizations argued Wednesday that the Food and Drug Administration should reverse its approval of the two drugs for use in chemical abortions. They argued that the FDA wrongly characterized pregnancy as an illness and did not do proper research on abortion drugs’ potential side effects. Chemical abortions account for more than half of all abortions in the United States, according to statistics reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, which directly polls abortion centers.

Has the court removed a drug before? During the hearing, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, asked the plaintiffs for an example of a court ordering the FDA to remove a drug after years on the market—for example, mifepristone tablets were first approved by the FDA in 2019. Pro-life Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Erik Baptist said there are no prior examples. But Baptist argued that the reason the drugs were on the market so long was because the FDA had stonewalled attempts by his organization to remove the drugs. The ruling could come any time after the arguments finished.

Dig deeper: Read Addie Offereins’ and Leah Savas’ report in WORLD Magazine about abortion pill access.