Federal Judge Revokes FDA’s Abortion Drug Approval

Due to recent federal rulings and the unfortunate result of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election, the future of abortion in Wisconsin is uncertain.

Last week, a federal judge in Texas revoked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) two-decades-old approval of the abortion pill. The judge agreed with arguments made by the state of Texas that the use of the pill poses health risks to women and violates federal regulations. The lawsuit was prompted by a Memorandum issued by President Joe Biden earlier this year, giving the go-ahead for the potent abortion drug mifepristone to continue to be available to women by mail as a special order had allowed it to be during COVID. Prior to COVID, mifepristone had to be dispensed in person. The January 22, 2023, White HMemorandum also allows for certain pharmacies to make the abortion drug available. The judge gave the federal government 7 days to decide if they will appeal, which has already happened. The decision is appealed to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The judge in Texas made his decision applicable nationwide.

This ruling contrasts with a decision made by a federal judge in Washington state less than one hour later. The Washington judge decided that the FDA should not restrict the pill’s availability in most states that allow abortion. Unlike the Texas case, this decision applies only to the 18 states that were part of the lawsuit. Wisconsin was not one of those state. These contrasting rulings have led to confusion surrounding the use of the chemical abortion pill, and they could even prompt the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.

Right now, most abortions in Wisconsin are illegal, including chemical and medical abortions. This is because our pre-Roe law is currently being enforced (or is supposedly being enforced). Should that law be overturned, we would revert to the way the law was before the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. 

If that happens, at least in theory, our law that bans telemed abortions would still be on the books and would be enforceable, meaning if a woman is going to use mifepristone to end the life of her preborn baby, then she would need to get it directly from a doctor who sees her in person, assuming she wanted to get the abortion-inducing drug in Wisconsin. The telemed law would prevent her from ordering it or getting it from her doctor by remote access. In addition, we would have a 20-week ban; so mifepristone could not be administered in situations where the gestational age is 20+ weeks.

All this could change, however, if the Wisconsin Supreme Court ever finds a “right” to abortion in our state constitution and then decides to deem the restrictions and regulations we have put in place over the last 45+ years as “unconstitutional” under that concocted right. The results of the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court election make these scenarios more realistic than ever before.

As Christians, our job is to pay close attention to these cases and continue sharing the truth about the humanity of the preborn and the traumatic reality of the abortion pills. Women and their preborn babies deserve so much better than toxic drugs that barbarically end one life and traumatize another.

For the family,