A federal appeals court late on Wednesday blocked part of a ruling issued last week by a Trump-appointed judge that endangers access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the Justice Department’s emergency request to put on hold the part of the decision issued by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk that suspended the Food and Drug Administration’s original approval of mifepristone, which dates back to 2000.
But the three-judge panel said that a separate part of Kacsmaryk’s decision, which suspends changes the FDA made to the drug’s approved use in 2016, could go into effect. The panel also determined that the agency’s finding in 2021 that mifepristone can be distributed by mail would be paused as well, as Kacsmaryk ordered.
The court’s decision imperils widespread availability of the drug, as it would require patients to make in-person visits to obtain it.
The 2016 changes among other things reduced the number of in-person visits that patients are required to make from three to one.
The appeals court said it would expedite its full consideration of the case.
The Justice Department can still ask the Supreme Court to intervene in an attempt to completely block Kacsmaryk’s ruling. The administration would need to win the votes of at least five of the nine justices on the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority.
The panel was divided 2-1, with Judge Kurt Engelhardt and Judge Andrew Oldham, both appointees of former President Donald Trump, in the majority. Judge Catharina Haynes, an appointee of President George W. Bush, said she would have temporarily blocked the ruling in full.
The Biden Administration and Danco Laboratories, the maker of Mifeprex, the brand version of mifepristone, both filed requests seeking to put Kacsmaryk’s ruling on hold.
Kacsmaryk’s decision “upended decades of reliance by blocking FDA’s approval of mifepristone and depriving patients of access to this safe and effective treatment, based on…
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