House Democrats call for hearing on Texas abortion pill ruling

Democrats on the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday requested a direct hearing on a federal judge’s order suspending the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. 

All 23 Democrats on the committee wrote in a letter to Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., arguing that the ruling undermines the FDA’s authority over the drug approval process.

The lawmakers said the committee and the general public must hear from experts in regards to the impact of Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision last week. They cite greater than a dozen food and drug law scholars who say banning mifepristone would create “harmful reverberations” that may affect abortion patients, health-care providers and the biopharmaceutical industry. 

“The Committee, and the American people, must understand the impact of this decision and what’s at stake for not only abortion care, but in addition for access to critical protected and effective medications more broadly,” they wrote within the letter. 

Mifepristone, used together with one other drug called misoprostol, is probably the most common method to terminate a pregnancy within the U.S., accounting for about half of all abortions, in keeping with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The letter comes a day after Republican and Democratic lawmakers clashed over Kacsmaryk’s order, which he delivered Friday in U.S. District Court in Amarillo, Texas. 

Greater than 200 Democratic lawmakers filed an amicus transient Tuesday urging a federal appeals court to grant emergency relief from the ruling. Fifty senators and 190 House members wrote within the transient that staying the order is “essential to mitigate the approaching harm facing members of the general public.” 

The lawmakers added within the transient that many individuals depend on the supply of mifepristone for reproductive care and “many more” depend on the FDA’s authority over drug approvals to access other life-saving drugs. 

Hours later, 69 Republicans filed a separate amicus transient urging the appeals court to uphold Kacsmaryk’s decision. 

The GOP lawmakers of their transient said the FDA’s approval of medication abortions was “illegal.” They alleged that the FDA did not follow Congress’ “statutorily prescribed drug approval process” by approving mifepristone in 2000. 

“The FDA’s lawless actions ultimately endanger women and girls looking for chemical abortions,” the lawmakers wrote. The transient was led by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and includes 10 other senators and 58 House Republicans. 

Those briefs got here a day after the Justice Department asked the U.S. fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to maintain the abortion pill mifepristone on the U.S. market as litigation plays out and to dam the ruling by noon Thursday. 

Kacsmaryk in his ruling said the FDA improperly rushed its approval process for mifepristone when it signed off on the drug.

The judge delayed his ruling from taking effect for every week to offer the Biden administration time to appeal it. It is about to enter effect at 12 a.m. Central time on Saturday.

Kacsmaryk’s decision conflicts with a ruling by one other federal judge. Minutes after the Texas ruling, a judge in Washington state issued a preliminary injunction that might protect access to mifepristone within the 17 states and Washington, D.C., that brought a lawsuit arguing that too many regulations exist on the drug.

The 2 orders could potentially escalate the matter to the Supreme Court.