A panel of three judges heard arguments by anti-abortion groups that the federal government should withdraw approval for a widely used drug.
A federal appeals court is hearing arguments on Wednesday in a case that could determine the availability of a medication used in a majority of abortions in the country.
A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is considering whether to uphold a preliminary ruling from a federal judge in Texas, who in April declared invalid the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of the pill, mifepristone.
Although the case is still in its early stages and any decision is likely to be appealed, it could ultimately have profound implications.
If the initial judge’s ruling is upheld, access to medication abortion would be upended in states where abortion is legal, not just in states where bans and restrictions are in force. The F.D.A.’s regulatory authority over other drugs could be challenged with other lawsuits, and pharmaceutical companies say that uncertainty about the F.D.A.’s role could chill drug development in the United States.
The arguments included whether the parties who brought the suit — a coalition of organizations and doctors who oppose abortion and do not prescribe the pill — could show they would suffer real harm if the medication continued to be available and whether they waited too long to challenge the approval of mifepristone, the first pill in a two-drug regimen.
The plaintiffs claim that mifepristone is unsafe and that the F.D.A. did not follow proper regulatory protocols in approving it in 2000 — contentions that the government strongly disputes, citing years of research and other support for the agency’s actions.
