Democrat Rep. Gonzales Tells GOP Senators “I Can’t Keep the FDA Away”: The Texas High-Tensor Protest to the Affordable Care Act (The Case of Abortion)
In Texas, District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a long-awaited decision on a suit from the Alliance Defending Freedom, which filed on behalf of antiabortion medical groups and doctors against the FDA. Kacsmaryk — nominated by former President Donald Trump — ruled largely in the group’s favor. He didn’t reverse the FDA’s decision but he did issue a stay that is supposed to keep Mifepristone’s pre-approval status. The ruling gave the Department of Justice seven days to seek emergency relief from an appeals court, which it’s already done.
The storm intensity was seen in the rhetoric between Republicans and Democrats on Sunday. The Secretary of Health and Human Services promised that women would have safe and effective medication after the administration launched a legal appeal to keep the suspension from going into force.
But Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales told CNN’s Bash that his party could use its House majority to punish the FDA if the agency took such a step. “If the administration wants to … not live up to this ruling, then we’re going to have a problem,” he said. There could be a point where the House Republicans need to cut funding for FDA programs that don’t make sense.
If this happens the American health care system could be severely impacted and acrimony surrounding the regulatory approval process could intensify.
Some women are worried that they may not be allowed to get contraceptives anymore, and others are angry that they have their reproductive rights taken away. The kind of controversial statement he made contributed to the struggles of the Republicans with female voters.
The decision by Kacsmaryk, a long-time opponent of abortion rights, is the latest occasion where a high-profile member of the conservative movement has launched a daring application of power in a way that Democrats argue trashes legal and democratic convention. The expulsion of two Black state legislators from the Tennessee state house last week was one of a number of examples of conservative efforts to restrict voting access and even try to overturn the 2020 election.
A Texas judge ruled Friday that the FDA made a mistake when it approved the abortion pill 20 years ago, as well as a Washington state judge who disagreed with the Texas judge’s ruling.
Neither the two-drug regime, nor misoprostol-alone medication abortions are available legally in these states. Misoprostol itself remains legal when used for other purposes, like treating ulcers or inducing labor.
The case is notable due to the fact that it uses an old obscenity law that ban the shipping of abortion-related materials. The opinion misinterprets the ban on advertising or described as anything that will lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion even if it is legal. Kacsmaryk writes that the statute does not require intent on the part of the seller. It’s the latest sign that long-dormant obscenity rules are being resurrected following an unsuccessful attempt to ban books in Virginia using a mostly forgotten state statute.
But in the short term, the ruling’s potential effects are muddy and reliant on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which could reverse the stay. (The Fifth Circuit is notably the one that allowed a ban on internet moderation to stand in 2022.) In February, members of the nonprofit Women’s Law Project argued that the FDA had substantial power to limit the ruling’s effects even if it were allowed to stand. Its response could affect whether the manufacturers and sellers of the drug keep patient access to the pill.
A Massachusetts Governor’s Office Plan to Secure a Million Misoprostol Tablets to Handle an Emergency Order of Mifepristone
More than half of abortions in the U.S. are now medication abortions, and the vast majority of those involve the two-drug protocol, which is considered the gold standard here. The second drug in the regimen can be used alone to induce abortion.
If a patient doesn’t experience any bleeding or cramping, the medication might not work and she would need more to have an abortion.
The two-medication protocol tends to cause more side effects than the misoprostol-only protocol and there’s lots of research that shows it.
If patients experience heavy or prolonged bleeding – spotting that persists for over 2 weeks, for example, or bleeding so heavy they soak through more than two pads an hour for over two hours – they might need a procedure to complete the abortion.
A prolonged fever above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit is also a reason to seek medical care. While low-grade fevers and chills are an expected side effect of misoprostol and aren’t life threatening, if a fever persists for more than 24 hours after taking misoprostol, it could be a sign of infection.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the two-drug regimen to end pregnancies up to 10 weeks gestational age, but the World Health Organization endorses it up to 12 weeks. They are less likely to be effective after that.
For instance, Mayday. Health provides step-by-step instructions for setting a mail forwarding address, so patients can list the address they want to use for an abortion on their intake form, then get the pills sent to another location. Plan C provides information about how to obtain abortion pills at home.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office says it’s made plans to secure an emergency stockpile of up to 2 million pills of misoprostol, a drug used in combination with another pill that is now the subject of legal battles in federal courts. Officials say the state currently has more than 250,000 of the pills already on hand, which were purchased for about $100,000.
Massachusetts governor said Monday afternoon that her state has over a year’s worth of pills. Last week, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced his state had prepared a stockpile of about three years’ worth of mifepristone.
Newsom’s office says the pills were secured through the state’s CalRx prescription drug program, and California is providing information about its purchase agreement to other states that may be interested in taking similar action.
There is a state website where pharmacies can get information about how to request pills from the supply.