The future of the abortion pill in the United States will be debated in court
The use of mifepristone as an abortion pill was authorized in 2000 in the United States.
The future of the abortion pill in the United States will be played out on Wednesday before an ultra-conservative magistrate who opponents of abortion are asking to suspend its authorization, granted 23 years ago by the drug regulator.
Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was a lawyer for a Christian organization before being named a federal judge by former Republican President Donald Trump, will hear arguments from the parties in a federal court in Amarillo, North Texas.
He will then be able to render his decision at any time in this case, which is likely to have repercussions as resounding as the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States having dynamited, last June, the right to justice. abortion.
In November, a coalition of doctors and anti-abortion groups sent him a complaint against the US Medicines Agency (FDA), which they blame for having authorized mifepristone 23 years ago (UK 486), one of two pills used for medical termination of pregnancy.
Plaintiffs accuse FDA of choosing politics over science by approving chemical likely, according to them, to create complications and to have overstepped its prerogatives.
Pending the examination of the substantive arguments, they ask Judge Kacsmaryk to immediately suspend the approval of mifepristone throughout the United States.
Such a decision would be devastating for women, denounced the spokesperson for the presidency, Karine Jean-Pierre, ten days ago.
Since the year 2000, more than 5.6 million women have used this pill in the United States, and a tiny proportion (less than 1,500) have taken complications without establishing a link, according to the FDA.
Today, the majority (53%) of pregnancy terminations are medication, a less intrusive and less costly procedure than surgical abortions.
Since the Supreme Court of the United States gave freedom to legislate to each state, about fifteen of them have banned abortions on their soil and abortion pills are not allowed there.
But pregnant women in these states can still travel to neighboring states to get the pills. Others obtain them discreetly by mail.
