A federal appeals court issued a ruling late Wednesday evening partially staying an order from a lower court blocking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) 2000 approval of mifepristone, the first drug used in a two-drug medication abortion regimen.
But while the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is allowing the FDA’s initial abortion pill approval to stand during ongoing litigation, the court allowed part of the lower court’s order to stand blocking later agency actions deregulating the dispensation and use of mifepristone. The court also expedited the appeal to the next available oral argument calendar date.
The ruling is with regards to a lawsuit filed by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) in November of 2022 against the FDA on behalf of four national medical associations and several doctors. The lawsuit alleges that the agency “chose politics over science and approved chemical abortion drugs for use in the United States” and asks the court to hold unlawful the agency’s 2000 approval of the drug, as well as several subsequent discrete agency actions.
