WASHINGTON — The Biden administration asked a federal appeals court to suspend a ruling by a conservative U.S. judge in Texas that would block access nationwide to a key drug used in medication abortions — even as it sought clarity on a conflicting order in Washington state.
Lawyers for the government argued in their Texas filing on Monday that the “extraordinary and unprecedented” ruling upends the status quo and that the anti-abortion-rights group behind the lawsuit had no authority to challenge federal approval of the drug because the doctors they represent don’t prescribe it to their patients.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo on Friday temporarily reversed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decades-old approval of mifepristone, siding with those who say the government failed to take into account health concerns about the drug and that its green light was politically motivated. His ruling is set to go into effect on Friday.
