AMARILLO, Texas — A judge appointed by former President Donald Trump heard arguments Wednesday in a lawsuit that aims to ban an abortion medication that has been widely used by millions of American women for over two decades.
During the four-hour hearing, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk appeared sympathetic to arguments from the lawyers for a coalition of anti-abortion groups called the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. Their goal in filing the suit was to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the pills used to terminate pregnancies, which account for more than half of abortions in the U.S.
At issue was a request from the plaintiffs for the judge to grant a preliminary injunction against mifepristone — one pill in the two-drug regimen — taking it off the market nationwide while the case proceeds.
But Kacsmaryk stumped the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine’s lawyers when he asked if they could offer another example of a drug with a long-established approval that was yanked from clinic or hospital shelves.
“No, I can’t,” replied Erik Baptist, senior counsel with the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom.
As to the reason why this legal challenge came so long after the drug’s approval, Baptist blamed the FDA, saying it took the agency 14 years to respond to a citizens’ petition raising concerns about mifepristone.
“The court has an interest in preventing dangerous drugs from entering the marketplace,” Baptist said. “Any relief you grant must be complete. The harm of chemical drugs knows no bound.”
However, Justice Department lawyer Julie Straus Harris said removing a drug that has been used safely for 20 years would be “unprecedented.”
“It is important to step back and think about what the agency did here,” Harris said. “The FDA did not require anyone to take it — they simply said it is safe and effective.”
Kacsmaryk said he would “make a decision as soon as possible.”
Outside the courthouse was a…
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