Joe Biden (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) called a federal judge’s decision to suspend approval of an abortion pill “an unprecedented step in taking away basic freedoms from women.” In a White House statement, the president said his administration will fight the ruling, warning that if it stands, every regulated drug could become vulnerable to “political, ideological attacks.”
The decision came on Friday when a Texas federal judge, a Donald Trump appointee, overturned the two‑decade‑old FDA approval of a safe and effective abortion pill. The ruling would reverse permission for a drug widely used to terminate unwanted pregnancies. Both the FDA and the Justice Department filed appeals, and President Biden pledged to “fight this ruling.” He described the lawsuit and the decision as another unprecedented attack on women’s freedoms and health.
In contrast, a judge in Washington state issued a separate ruling moments later, ordering that access to the drug be preserved in more than a dozen states. The conflicting opinions and ongoing appeals make it likely that the issue will reach the Supreme Court, which last year, under a conservative‑dominated panel, overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the constitutional protection of a woman’s right to abortion.
Reactions to the Texas ruling were swift. Biden condemned it as an ideological attack on women’s rights, saying the court had substituted its judgment for that of the FDA, the expert agency that approves drugs. He warned that if the ruling stands, “there will be virtually no prescription approved by the FDA that would be safe from these kinds of political, ideological attacks.”
Jack Resneck, president of the American Medical Association, called judicial interference in the FDA’s evidence‑based review “reckless and dangerous.” Planned Parenthood’s president, Alexis McGill Johnson, labeled Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision an assault on science, noting that the judge—formerly aligned with the religious right—unilaterally rejected medical evidence and overruled the FDA’s approval of a medication used safely for over twenty years.
Kacsmaryk’s ruling followed a lawsuit by anti‑abortion groups seeking to freeze national distribution of mifepristone. While he stayed the FDA’s 23‑year‑old approval, he also paused the applicability of his order for seven days to allow for appeals. Anti‑abortion advocates celebrated the decision. Katie Glenn of Susan B. Anthony Pro‑Life America called it “a win for the health and safety of women and girls,” asserting that the ruling reaffirms that pregnancy is not an illness and that abortion is not health care, and that the FDA is being held accountable for violating its rules.
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