Decision Does Not Take Effect for 7 Days Awaiting Government Appeal; Mifepristone Approval Protected for Time Being

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 10, 2023

CONTACT: Virginia Lucy, media@napawf.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Friday, a federal judge in Texas issued an unprecedented decision that threatens nationwide access to mifepristone, a safe, effective FDA-approved medication used for early abortion.

In the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine et al v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration et al, the judge issued a preliminary ruling declaring the FDA’s approval of mifepristone unlawful. The decision does not take effect for seven days after its announcement on Friday, April 7, pending federal government appeal.

Separately, less than an hour later, a judge in Washington state ruled that the FDA status of mifepristone cannot be changed. This ruling is effective in the 17 states and District of Columbia that had signed on to the lawsuit by the Washington Attorney General, creating a legal contradiction nationwide. People seeking abortion care deserve better than legal confusion and contradictory rulings.

Sung Yeon Choimorrow, NAPAWF’s Executive Director, issued the following statement:

“Judge Kacsmaryk’s decision in the Texas case prioritizes extreme politics at their worst over science, medicine, and evidence-based research.

Mifepristone is one of two medications used in the most common medication abortion regimen used in the U.S. It is safe, it is effective, and it has been used by more than 5 million people since it was approved by the FDA more than 20 years ago.

No matter what state you live in, this decision has the potential to compromise and complicate access to medication abortion across the country and will have devastating impacts on Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. Attacks like these on reproductive freedom are a direct assault on people of color, including AAPIs. For the 1 in 3 AAPI pregnancies that end in abortion, the path to abortion can be difficult, faced with language barriers, cultural stigmas, and low rates of insurance for our most vulnerable members. Decisions like this one only stand to drive a further wedge between our community and the health care they need and deserve when deciding if and how to end a pregnancy.

This is yet another effort by anti-abortion rights activists to eradicate access to sexual and reproductive health care. To have a single judge substitute their opinion for the thorough expertise and authority of the FDA is unconscionable and dangerous. It is imperative for the higher courts to reverse this decision as soon as possible.”

# # #

The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) is the only multi-issue, progressive, community organizing and policy advocacy organization for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women and girls in the U.S. NAPAWF’s mission is to build collective power so that all AAPI women and girls can have full agency over our lives, our families, and our communities.