The U.S. government on Monday filed an emergency motion to stay a judge’s ruling to revoke the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, a ruling that could make it harder for patients to undergo the procedure.
In a filing with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, the Department of Justice said the judge’s ruling was “especially unwarranted” because it would thwart the FDA’s scientific judgment and severely harm women, especially those for whom mifepristone is a medical or practical necessity.
Monday’s filing came three days after U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, said the FDA had exceeded its authority by ignoring mifepristone’s risks and relying on “plainly unsound reasoning and studies” when approving it.
The judge, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump, stayed his preliminary injunction for seven days to allow the Biden administration time to appeal.
