{"id":777,"date":"2023-02-24T10:55:33","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T10:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/?p=777"},"modified":"2023-02-24T10:55:38","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T10:55:38","slug":"one-texas-judge-will-decide-fate-of-abortion-pill-used-by-millions-of-american-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/?p=777","title":{"rendered":"One Texas Judge Will Decide Fate of Abortion Pill Used by Millions of American Women"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignwide is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"cNnAQD24GFc\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Abortion pills become latest battleground over reproductive rights\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cNnAQD24GFc?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>AMARILLO, Texas \u2014 Federal judges in Texas have delivered time and again for abortion opponents.<\/p>\n<p>They upheld a state law that allows for <a href=\"https:\/\/capitol.texas.gov\/tlodocs\/87R\/billtext\/pdf\/SB00008F.pdf\">$10,000 bounties to be placed on anyone<\/a> who helps a woman get an abortion; ruled that someone opposed to abortion based on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/report-section\/state-and-federal-reproductive-rights-litigation-tracker-federal-litigation\/\">religious beliefs can block a federal program<\/a> from providing birth control to teens; and determined <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.txnd.365015\/gov.uscourts.txnd.365015.39.0.pdf\">that emergency room doctors must equally weigh<\/a> the life of a pregnant woman and her embryo or fetus.<\/p>\n<p>Now abortion rights advocates \u2014 galvanized by the reversal of <em>Roe v. Wade<\/em> \u2014 are girding for another decision from a Texas courtroom that could force the FDA to remove a widely used abortion pill from pharmacies and physicians\u2019 offices nationwide.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/adfmedialegalfiles.blob.core.windows.net\/files\/AllianceForHippocraticMedicineComplaint.pdf\">wide-ranging lawsuit<\/a>, brought by a conservative Christian legal group, argues that the FDA\u2019s approval process more than two decades ago was flawed when it authorized the use of mifepristone, which stops the development of a pregnancy and is part of a two-drug regimen used in medication abortions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe FDA has one job, which is just to protect Americans from dangerous drugs,\u201d said Denise Harle, senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom, part of a conservative coalition that brought the suit in federal district court in Amarillo, Texas. \u201cAnd we\u2019re asking the court to remove that chemical drug regimen until and unless the FDA actually goes through the proper testing that it\u2019s required to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A decision in the case was expected as soon as Friday. If successful, the lawsuit would force federal officials to rescind mifepristone\u2019s approval, and manufacturers would be unable to ship the drug anywhere in the United States, including to states like California, Massachusetts, Illinois, and New York where abortion remains legal.<\/p>\n<p>Abortion rights supporters and medical groups have pushed back on the lawsuit\u2019s claims. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.acog.org\/-\/media\/project\/acog\/acogorg\/files\/advocacy\/amicus-briefs\/mifepristone-amicus-brief-21023.pdf?la=en&amp;hash=A529550930A6AEC7E1BE28E73C28364C\">Twelve leading medical organizations<\/a>, including the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, say medication abortion is effective and safe.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, decades of research show the risk of major complications from taking abortion pills is less than 0.4% \u2014 safer than such commonly used drugs as Tylenol or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.acog.org\/-\/media\/project\/acog\/acogorg\/files\/advocacy\/amicus-briefs\/mifepristone-amicus-brief-21023.pdf?la=en&amp;hash=A529550930A6AEC7E1BE28E73C28364C\">Viagra<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got 23 years of data domestically that shows how safe medication abortion is, and it\u2019s been used internationally for decades,\u201d said Amy Hagstrom Miller, chief executive of Whole Woman\u2019s Health, a medical organization with clinics in several states. \u201cIt\u2019s much safer than somebody being forced to carry a pregnancy against their will.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/media\/154941\/download\">5 million women in the United States<\/a>, federal data shows \u2014 and millions more across the world \u2014 have safely used abortion pills. They can be taken up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy and are also used by OB-GYNs to <a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/article\/texas-abortion-pill-lawsuit-mifepristone-pbs-newshour\/%20What\" s=\"\">manage early miscarriages<\/a>. All told, more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.guttmacher.org\/article\/2022\/02\/medication-abortion-now-accounts-more-half-all-us-abortions\">half of all abortions in the U.S. are a result of medication<\/a> rather than a medical procedure, according Guttmacher Institute research.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/womens-health-policy\/fact-sheet\/the-availability-and-use-of-medication-abortion\/\">Medication abortion involves taking two pills<\/a>: mifepristone, which blocks the pregnancy hormone, progesterone; and misoprostol, which induces a miscarriage. Both drugs have long and safe track records: Misoprostol was approved in 1988 to treat gastric ulcers, with mifepristone earning approval in 2000 to end early pregnancy.<\/p>\n<p>By filing its lawsuit in Amarillo, the Alliance Defending Freedom was almost guaranteed to draw U.S. District <a href=\"https:\/\/www.txnd.uscourts.gov\/news\/press-release-judge-matthew-joseph-kacsmaryk\">Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk<\/a>, a President Donald Trump appointee who worked as deputy general counsel at First Liberty Institute, a conservative nonprofit advocating for religious liberty, before being confirmed to the federal judiciary in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Civil rights groups universally opposed Kacsmaryk\u2019s nomination to the Northern District of Texas. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, said during the confirmation process that Kacsmaryk showed \u201calarming bias against LGBTQ Americans and disregard for Supreme Court precedents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s made statements in opposition to reproductive rights, linking up reproduction to the feminist movement and making anti-feminist statements,\u201d said Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at the University of Texas-Austin, adding that the Supreme Court\u2019s decision last summer in <em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization, <\/em>which overturned <em>Roe<\/em>, allowed the suit against the FDA to proceed. \u201cPrior to <em>Dobbs<\/em>, the right to abortion would have stood in the way of this lawsuit. But now the conservative legal movement feels empowered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit is the latest effort by opponents of abortion rights to stymie the use of abortion pills, which many people seeking abortion prefer because it allows them to control their own health care and affords privacy for a process that involves cramping and bleeding, similar to a miscarriage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you have medication abortion, part of the process happens at home. And a lot of people like that,\u201d said Hagstrom Miller, of Whole Woman\u2019s Health. \u201cPeople can be at home with their loved ones and can sort of schedule the passing of the pregnancy around their work schedule or their child care schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harle, however, said that the FDA used a provision to approve the drug that should be used only for medications that treat illness, and that pregnancy is not an illness, but a condition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey didn\u2019t meet the standards of federal law,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Mifepristone\u2019s approval was investigated in 2008 \u2014 during the Republican administration of George W. Bush \u2014 by the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog, which found that the process was consistent with FDA regulations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hard to think of a drug that\u2019s been under more scrutiny than mifepristone,\u201d said I. Glenn Cohen, a Harvard Law School professor and one of 19 FDA scholars who filed an amicus brief opposing the lawsuit. \u201cWe don\u2019t think there\u2019s a problem here statutorily or medically. It\u2019d be very dangerous to allow a single judge sitting in Amarillo to essentially order a drug that\u2019s used by many women in America off the market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Harle said that no amount of scientific data would be enough to convince her that mifepristone should be on the market.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think chemical abortion does great harms to women and their unborn children,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what this lawsuit is really about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Abortion care providers like Hagstrom Miller are bracing for the ruling. \u201cI think people know that what happens in Texas doesn\u2019t stay in Texas,\u201d she said. \u201cSome of the most progressive states in the country will face restrictions if this lawsuit is successful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If that\u2019s the case, her clinics and OB-GYNs across the country will be forced to use only misoprostol for miscarriage and early abortion care, something that will reduce the efficacy of the method: While taking the two pills together is 99.6% effective in terminating early pregnancy, misoprostol alone \u2014 although still extremely safe \u2014 is about 80% effective.<\/p>\n<p>Hagstrom Miller also notes that side effects from misoprostol can be more intense, including nausea, diarrhea, and severe cramping and bleeding.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd that matters, right?\u201d she said. \u201cPeople should have access to the highest level of medical care.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"meta-authors meta\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"author-name\">Sarah Varney: <\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/article\/texas-abortion-pill-lawsuit-mifepristone-pbs-newshour\/mailto:svarney@kff.org\">svarney@kff.org<\/a>,\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/SarahVarney4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t@SarahVarney4<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<section class=\"block--category-tag-list \">\n<div class=\"category-tag-list__content-wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"block--category-tag-list__title\">\n\t\t\t\tRelated Topics\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a class=\"category-tag-list__contact-link\" href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/contact-us\/\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tContact Us\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t<a class=\"category-tag-list__tip-link\" href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/tips\/\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tSubmit a Story Tip\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AMARILLO, Texas \u2014 Federal judges in Texas have delivered time and again for abortion opponents. They upheld a state law that allows for $10,000 bounties to be placed on anyone who helps a woman get an abortion; ruled that someone opposed to abortion based on religious beliefs can block a federal program from providing birth [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pharmaceuticals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":779,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions\/779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}