WASHINGTON – A coalition of anti-abortion groups told a federal appeals court early Wednesday it should suspend a common abortion pill called mifepristone, the latest development in a case that has captured nationwide attention since a controversial ruling last week jeopardized a more than two-decade-old approval of the drug.
The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which is challenging the Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone in 2000, asked the Louisiana-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to uphold the lower court's pause on the drug's approval while the underlying questions raised by the high-profile lawsuit are decided.
The group said the lower court's order "paints an alarming picture of decades-long agency lawlessness." The public, the group told the appeals court in its filing, has "no interest in maintaining unlawful agency" approval of the drug and asserted that the lower court's order "merely removes mifepristone from the mails and the market." Abortion, the group said, "will still be available in states that permit it."
The Biden administration on Monday appealed a decision by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk that would effectively revoke the FDA approval. Kacsmaryk, nominated to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump, paused his own ruling for one week.
In its appeal, the Biden administration sought to extend that pause. The latest filing was the group's response to that request.
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The government's lawyers told the appeals court on Monday that the FDA has determined mifepristone is safe and effective to terminate early pregnancies in a decision that five presidential administrations upheld. Serious adverse effects are "exceedingly rare," as they are for common drugs such as ibuprofen, the department said in its filings earlier this week,
A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit is expected to decide by the end of the week whether to extend the stay of Kacsmaryk's ruling or let it expire. If it chooses to let it expire, the Biden administration would likely appeal to the Supreme Court.
Contributing: Maureen Groppe and Bart Jansen, USA TODAY
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