A judge has suspended the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill, but the fight isn’t over yet. 

From National Review. The Department of Justice asked a federal appeals court on Monday to order the abortion pill mifepristone to remain on the market pending further litigation, days after Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk suspended FDA approval of the drug.

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The DOJ wants the short-term administrative stay issued by Kacsmaryk to be extended and it also asked for a long-term stay pending appeal. The drug, which is part of a regimen that is the most common method of procuring an abortion, is due to become unavailable in most of the country seven days after Kacsmaryk’s ruling.

Kacsmaryk, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, issued a nationwide preliminary injunction Friday. However, within hours, Judge Thomas Rice of the Eastern District of Washington issued a competing ruling that the FDA must maintain the drug’s availability in 17 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia. The dueling orders make it likely that higher courts will consider both cases in an expedited fashion.

The Biden administration is challenging the Texas judge’s ruling on both standing as well as the merits.

“Plaintiffs lack standing to challenge FDA’s approval of a drug they neither take nor prescribe,” the DOJ filing read. “The court also erred by holding that plaintiffs’ claims are timely.” …

Kacsmaryk had sided with the plaintiffs — namely, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, an organization of pro-life medical groups, as well as four pro-life doctors.

“The Court does not second-guess FDA’s decision-making lightly. But here, FDA acquiesced on its legitimate safety concerns — in violation of its statutory duty — based on plainly unsound reasoning and studies that did not support its conclusions,” he wrote. …

If the Justice Department does not get a stay from the Fifth Circuit, it is expected to appeal to the Supreme Court. Danco, the maker of Mifeprex, the brand version of mifepristone, has filed a similar appeal against Kacsmaryk’s order. …

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(Excerpt from National Review. Photo Credit: Getty Images)