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Texas Court grants motion to intervene in women’s healthcare in Kansas

A U.S. District Court in Texas has granted a motion to intervene in women’s healthcare in Kansas, Missouri and Idaho following their claims about a commonly used abortion medication.

January 15, 2024

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Texas Court grants motion to intervene in women’s healthcare in Kansas

FILE(MGN)

By Sarah Motter

Published: Jan. 15, 2024 at 9:08 AM CST

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - A U.S. District Court in Texas has granted a motion to intervene in women’s healthcare in Kansas, Missouri and Idaho following their claims about a commonly used abortion medication.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a national conservative non-profit legal organization focused on Christian practices, announced that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted a motion to intervene in the healthcare for women in Missouri, Kansas and Idaho.

The move follows a lawsuit that was filed in November. In the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the states of Missouri, Kansas and Idaho claimed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration failed in its responsibility to limit the use of drugs that could be dangerous to the public.

The states claimed that the drug in question, mifepristone, - which is commonly used for medical abortions - puts women’s health at risk. They claim the introduction of the drug and subsequent “deregulation” of the drug has spanned three decades.

Specifically, the states questioned the 2016 rollback of most safety precautions put in place by the FDA when mifepristone was approved in 2000, the 2019 FDA approval of generic mifepristone and the 2021 and 2023 policies which allowed the drugs to be sent through the mail.

A final vote is still to be determined as well as the final argument and opinion.

The ACLU of Kansas told 13 NEWS that the case is part of its Supreme Court Docket. The decision was made in December after the Supreme Court announced that it would hear the case.

The ACLU said the suit was brought by anti-abortion activists in an attempt to make it more difficult for individuals all around the nation to access mifepristone. A National Academies Press report found the drug has been safely used by more than 5 million people to end a pregnancy since it was approved. It is also part of the gold standard care for miscarriages from the New England Journal of Medicine.

“Since the Court overturned Roe, it has been increasingly difficult for people to get an abortion if they need one, and the court’s decision, in this case, could make it even more difficult for people to access abortion and could force some people to remain pregnant against their will, said Jennifer Dalven, director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “Let’s be clear: This case is the next step in the extremists’ plan to prevent anyone in the country from being able to get an abortion no matter where they live. In addition to its devastating effect on people’s ability to get an abortion, a decision siding with anti-abortion groups would severely undermine drug innovation and threaten the development and approval of lifesaving medicines, jeopardizing patients’ access to other critical medications they rely on today.”

The organization noted that the impact of the change could be harmful to access to abortion and upend the drug approval process for other critical medications. Around 20 patient advocacy groups, including the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the American Cancer Society and others, have filed a brief to outline the implications of the case for all Americans.

To read the brief, click HERE.

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