Texas lawsuit could impose nationwide ban on abortion pills — even where abortion is legal

More than half of all abortions in the US are done with medication.

HOUSTON, Texas. Abortion rights advocates are sounding the alarm over a lawsuit in Texas that they say could limit access to abortion pills across the country — even in states where abortion is legal.

More than half of all abortions in the US are done with medication.

Some reproductive rights advocates have said the decision could have more impact than the dismissal of Roe v. Wade.

It’s a two-pill process approved by the US Food and Drug Administration 22 years ago. Mifepristone taken with misoprostol can cause an abortion, but now abortion advocates are trying to overturn the FDA decision.

“The FDA never had the authority to approve these drugs,” said Julie Marie Blake, senior adviser at Alliance Defending Freedom.

Alliance Defending Freedom is a group that has filed a lawsuit in Texas against the FDA seeking to overturn the decision. They argued that the drugs were harmful and felt that there should be precautions in their use.

“It’s all about protecting women and girls from the harm these drugs do if they take them alone, alone, off the internet, in front of someone, to make sure they’re taken care of during the process,” Blake said.

But Dr. Bhavik Kumar, an abortionist at the Gulf Coast Planned Parenthood Center in Houston, said he was prescribing the drug to thousands of patients back when it was legal in Texas.

“Mifepristone is completely safe. It is one of the safest medicines I can give to a patient,” said Dr. Kumar. “It is extremely safe and extremely effective. It was used by 5 million people. We know a lot about how to use this medicine and these claims are completely wrong.”

Whether it’s safe or not is up to a conservative federal judge in Texas to decide.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction against the drug that would ban its use not just in Texas, but across the country — even in states where abortion is legal.

If an injunction is granted, the FDA will still be able to appeal the decision.

“But this decision will go to one of the most conservative intermediate courts of appeal in the country, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and then it could go to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has discretion to decide it, and all this takes time,” said University of Houston law professor Seth Chandler.

Time, which could mean months or even years, when this drug could be banned.

Abortion rights advocates fear it won’t stop there.

“They won’t stop until abortion is banned across the country and being in the blue state won’t save you,” said Delma Catalina Limones of AVOW Texas.

This federal judge can decide any day.

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