Dueling court orders cloud fate of abortion medication

Peter Wong and Portland Tribune

2 years ago

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., left, and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum at a March 12 event in the Sellwood neighborhood of Southeast Portland across from a CVS pharmacy. Others from left are Dr. Alison Edelman and Dr. Maria Rodriguez, both obstetricians/gynecologists at Oregon Health & Science University, and Mary Stark, a nurse practitioner for Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette. (Courtesy: Peter Wong)

PORTLAND, Ore. (Portland Tribune) – A pair of opposite rulings by federal judges have left hanging the fate of a long-used medication to induce abortion.

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk decided Friday, April 7, in Texas that the drug mifepristone can no longer be used in the United States despite its approval by the Food and Drug Administration back in 2000.

But Judge Thomas O. Rice decided an hour later in Washington state in favor of a countersuit led by Oregon and Washington on behalf of a total of 17 states and Washington, D.C., to remove FDA restrictions on the drug and ensure its access.

Oregon’s Ellen Rosenblum and Washington’s Bob Ferguson filed the competing lawsuit on Feb. 28.

Rosenblum said this in a statement released Saturday, April 8:

“The ruling issued in Texas is a shocking overreach by an anti-abortion judge that threatens the right of women nationwide to make their own decisions about their healthcare and their ability to access medication prescribed by their doctors.