A federal appeals court in New Orleans heard arguments in a high-stakes bid to invalidate FDA approval of the most widely used abortion medication in the country.
A federal appeals court in New Orleans on Wednesday heard arguments in a high-stakes bid to invalidate FDA approval of the most widely used abortion medication in the country more than two decades after it hit the market and despite its safe use by millions of women.
Three judges on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals — one of the most conservative courts in the country — appeared open to limiting access to the medication as they questioned a Biden administration attorney about FDA’s assessment of the drug mifepristone’s safety and effectiveness.
A federal judge in Texas last month concluded the agency’s process was deeply flawed and illegal from the start. That decision remains on hold for the duration of the legal challenge, which is expected to ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court, possibly next year. Mifepristone continues to be widely available under longstanding FDA guidelines.
The coalition of anti-abortion doctors and associations, represented by the conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, which brought the case is seeking to remove the drug from use, even in states where abortion is currently legal.
For two hours, the appeals court panel peppered attorneys on both sides with questions on the issue of legal standing: whether the doctor plaintiffs in the case suffer a specific and direct injury from the availability of the abortion pill sufficient to allow them to bring a lawsuit.
The government argued that none of the doctors involved has been directly impacted by FDA’s regulations of Mifepristone and that the entire challenge should be tossed out.
«Seeing and treating patients isn’t an injury,» said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Sarah Harrington. «These are not directly regulated parties.»
The government attempted to discredit the doctors, who have claimed in court filings that their religious conscience rights were violated by having to treat patients who had alleged complications from taking Mifepristone. None of the doctors in the case had raised objections at the time of providing care, and some of the patients they treated could not confirm that mifepristone was involved, according to court records.
An attorney for Danco Laboratories, which manufacturers mifepristone, also hammered the standing argument hard in defending the FDA.
