A Texas judge issued a ruling that would suspend Food and Drug Administration approval of mifepristone, a key abortion medication, as of April 15.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily blocked a decision by a judge in Texas to suspend U.S. government approval of a key abortion medication nationwide.
The court’s decision makes mifepristone available for now, though the judges declined to pause another part of the Texas ruling that said the Food and Drug Administration wrongly expanded access to the abortion drug.
The court said a preliminary review suggests that a statute of limitations barred a challenge to the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug in 2000. However, it left in place parts of the ruling that targeted the loosening of restrictions by FDA in recent years including the 2016 decision when it approved the usage of drug through 10 weeks of pregnancy instead of seven-weeks as was initially approved. This year, FDA further eased access to mifepristone by allowing retail pharmacies to dispense the pills. The Wednesday court order said the claims against these decisions were timely.
On Friday evening, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a nominee of President Donald Trump with long-held antiabortion views, sided with conservative groups that had sued the Biden administration.
