Abortion pill opponents appear to get favourable hearing at U.S. appeals court

The closely watched case is likely to wind up at the U.S. Supreme Court, which already intervened to keep mifepristone available while the legal fight winds through the courts.

Federal appeals court judges on Wednesday appeared to express support for opponents of the abortion pill mifepristone to pursue their challenge to its U.S. approval, which has potentially far-reaching consequences for abortion access across the country.

From the start of the high-stakes oral arguments before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, all three judges on the panel repeatedly pressed lawyers for the U.S. government and Danco Laboratories, which sells the drug under the brand name Mifeprex.

Circuit Judge James Ho interrupted the government’s attorney, Sarah Harrington, almost as soon as she began her presentation, questioning her use of “unprecedented” to describe the case.

“I guess I’m just wondering why not just focus on the facts of this case rather than have this sort of ‘FDA can do no wrong’ theme,” Ho said.

The judges appeared skeptical of the government’s and Danco’s views that the doctors and organizations who brought the lawsuit could not sue because they have not been harmed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the drug in 2000.

The government and Danco want the panel to overturn last month’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas suspending mifepristone’s approval.

The challenge to the drug’s availability comes as Republican-led states have enacted an increasing number of abortion bans and restrictions since the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized the procedure nationwide.

Anti-abortion groups and doctors, led by the recently formed Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, defended Kacsmaryk’s order during Wednesday’s argument. They claimed in their lawsuit last year that mifepristone is unsafe and that the FDA’s approval of it was illegal.