Here’s what to follow as the Texas abortion medication ruling plays out in the courts

On Friday, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Amarillo issued a ruling that declared invalid the FDA’s approval of Mifepristone, one of the most commonly used medications used to terminate pregnancies.

That ruling appears to place availability of the drug in jeopardy, and a contradictory ruling from another state and the Biden administration’s plan to overturn the the judge’s decision make things even more complicated.

What happens next? Here are some things to keep in mind as the legal wrangling around the ruling plays out.

The ruling

The ruling was made by U.S. District Judge Mathew Kacsmaryk, a Trump-appointed judge who previously worked as an attorney for a religious liberties legal group, the Associated Press reports. The case was brought to Kacsmaryk by a conglomerate of pro-life groups called the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which argued that the Federal Drug Administration’s approval of Mifepristone was wrong because “pregnancy is not an illness,” according to NPR.

What’s next

Expecting backlash, Kacsmaryk’s ruling included a seven-day grace period for the Justice Department to file an appeal. If no appeal is filed, the national ban on Mifepristone would go into effect on Friday, April 14.

Indeed, within hours of Kacsmaryk’s ruling, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Justice Department filed an appeal against the verdict. The only problem is that the appeal is filed in New Orleans’ 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, a panel of Trump-appointed judges that’s among the nation’s most conservative appeals courts, according to NBC.

Even so, Garland’s filing could allow Mifepristone to remain in circulation while the ruling goes through the appeals process.

Conflicting ruling

Mere hours after Kacsmaryk’s ruling, U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice in Washington state ruled that the FDA couldn’t do anything that would limit access to Mifepristone, according to CNN. That ruling came in response to a separate lawsuit filed by 17 Democrat-led states and the District of Columbia

Clearly, Rice’s ruling is in direct conflict with Kacsmaryk’s.

The Justice Department has asked Rice to clarify his order and explain how the FDA should comply once Kacsmaryk’s order goes into effect, according to NBC.

U.S. Supreme Court

If the Justice Department loses its appeal in the 5th Circuit, the government is likely to appeal the decision in the U.S. Supreme Court, legal analysts say. Once there, it becomes difficult to say what could happen next.

Last summer, the conservative-dominated Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which enshrined a women’s right to choose since 1973, leading to mass protests.

Although the high court did overturn Roe v. Wade, it remains unclear whether the conservative justices would go so far as to uphold Kacsmaryk’s ruling since it would intrude on the availability of abortion in states where it remains legal.

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This article appears in Apr 5-18, 2023.