A pair of preliminary decisions from federal judges in different districts have given contradictory instructions to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone.
In Texas, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk opined that the FDA erred when it approved mifepristone for early-term abortions back in 2000; he ordered access to the drug to be suspended while a challenge to that approval continues. In Washington state, U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice held that federal authorities cannot restrict access to mifepristone, or at least not in the 18 states that filed a lawsuit to protect access to the drug.
