Texas judge permits states' challenge against abortion pill rules to proceed

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Here's the opinion:

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.370067/gov.uscourts.txnd.370067.215.0.pdf

Hat tip, Joe.My.God.

Texas Trump Judge: States Can Sue Over Abortion Pills
January 17, 2025

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Politics
Texas judge permits states' challenge against abortion pill rules to proceed

Mifepristone access is under renewed scrutiny as states win court approval for a challenge.

Published: 6:32 PM CST January 16, 2025
Updated: 6:32 PM CST January 16, 2025

AMARILLO, Texas — A judge in Texas ruled Thursday that three other states can move ahead with their effort to roll back federal rules and make it harder for people across the U.S. to access the abortion drug mifepristone.

The states of Idaho, Kansas and Missouri made the request in U.S. District Court in Amarillo, Texas. The only judge based there is Matthew Kacsmaryk, a nominee of former President Donald Trump who previously ruled in favor of a challenge to the pill's approval.

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Kacsmaryk's decision “has left the door open for extremist politicians to continue attacking medication abortion in his courtroom," the ACLU said.

The ruling comes days before Trump begins his second term as president, so his administration will likely be representing the FDA in the case. Trump has repeatedly said abortion is an issue for the states, not the federal government, though he’s also stressed on the campaign trail that he appointed justices to the Supreme Court who were in the majority when striking down the national right to abortion.

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Red states can pick up the legal fight against mifepristone, judge rules

By Tierney Sneed, CNN | 2 minute read
Published 5:55 PM EST, Thu January 16, 2025


(CNN) — Missouri, Kansas and Idaho can press forward with their lawsuit to restrict access to the abortion drug mifepristone, a federal judge ruled Thursday, months after the US Supreme Court had rejected an earlier version of the legal challenge. ... The decision by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of President-elect Donald Trump, will allow the GOP-led states to pick up where a lawsuit brought by private anti-abortion activists left off, after the Supreme Court said last year that those activists lacked standing to bring the legal challenge.

In the amended complaint green-lit by Kacsmaryk, the states argued that certain moves by the US Food and Drug Administration have facilitated the flow of mifepristone across their borders, undermining their own abortion restrictions. ... Idaho, for instance, bans abortion in most circumstances, while some restrictions on medication abortion remain in Kansas and Missouri even after voters approved ballot initiatives protecting abortion rights.

They’re challenging FDA rules that have allowed for the drug to be obtained by the mail without an in-person doctor’s visit, as well as the FDA’s approval of the generic version of the drug and other changes in the last several years for how the drug can be prescribed.

In the new order, Kacsmaryk waved away the arguments of the FDA’s defenders who said his Amarillo, Texas, courtroom was an inappropriate venue for the case because the states’ claims lacked any tie to his court district. The judge said he’d give those arguments a fuller review at the next phase in the case, when defenders of the regulations, including the mifepristone manufacturer Danco, will have the opportunity to seek the lawsuit’s dismissal.

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