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A conservative Texas judge on Friday put a dent in the blue wall of abortion rights protections, issuing an order that could suspend approval of a drug used in medication abortions by women across the country – including in states with robust protections in place.
The decision from District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk could represent the biggest blow to abortion rights in the US since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer. That ruling upended the 2022 midterm elections, prompting a backlash that helped Democrats outperform expectations at almost every level of government.
Kacsmaryk paused his ruling for seven days to allow the federal government to appeal, an opportunity the Justice Department, joined by the drug manufacturer, quickly said it would take. President Joe Biden slammed the decision, calling it “another unprecedented step in taking away basic freedoms from women and putting their health at risk” and warning that the Food and Drug Administration’s mission now risked being undermined by “political, ideological attacks.”
Further complicating the matter, another federal judge, in Washington state, ruled Friday that the US Food and Drug Administration could not restrict access to the drug, mifepristone, in a separate lawsuit brought by Democratic state attorneys general.
The conflicting federal court decisions have likely produced a legal stalemate that will end up before the US Supreme Court. But the political fallout is already coming into focus, with Democrats at every level of government warning that the Trump-appointed Texas judge’s ruling is both gravely unjust and another step by anti-abortion Republicans in their quest to outlaw the procedure nationwide.
This long-brewing judicial clash comes just days after voters in Wisconsin flipped a state Supreme Court seat, and control of the bench, to favor liberals in a historically expensive election that largely hinged on the future of abortion rights in the state – and as political leaders in swing states around the country calculate its implications ahead of the 2024 elections.
“This does not just affect women in Texas,” Biden said Friday, “if it stands, it would prevent women in every state from accessing the medication, regardless of whether abortion is legal in a state.
A new frontier in abortion politics
On Friday evening, Democrats and allied abortion advocates quickly lashed out at the Amarillo-based Texas court and a judge that the plaintiffs, led by an anti-abortion group, sought because of his previously stated opposition to abortion rights.
“Today’s unprecedented decision threatens the rights of women nationwide to make decisions about their health care and the ability to access medication prescribed to them by their doctors,” Vice President Kamala Harris said. “Simply put: this decision undermines the FDA’s ability to approve safe and effective medications—from chemotherapy drugs, to asthma medicine, to blood pressure pills, to insulin—based on science, not politics.
