The recent revocation of FDA approval for mifepristone, the abortion pill, by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk has put the Biden administration in an extremely tough spot. In a 67-page ruling, Kacsmaryk “argued that the FDA failed to evaluate the psychological and long-term medical effects of the abortion pill, which the agency had previously stated were safe and effective.” The Biden administration has filed an appeal, but what happens in the interim?
“When you think about mifepristone, this is something that’s been — this is a drug that’s been around for two decades. This is a drug that is — that is used in 60 other countries. Again, this is something that is an FDA authority,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during Friday’s press briefing before the ruling was issued. “We’re going to prepare for all the different range of scenarios — that’s what I can promise the American people; that’s what I can say here — to ensure that the access to this drug for women — that women have this access to this drug.”
For the pro-abortion left, the ruling is an outrage, and Biden has a moral obligation to ignore it.
“There is no way this decision has a basis in law,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a statement last week. “It is instead rooted in conservatives’ dangerous and undemocratic takeover of our country’s institutions. No matter what happens in seven days, I believe the Food and Drug Administration has the authority to ignore this ruling, which is why I’m again calling on President Biden and the FDA to do just that.”
He wasn’t alone.
“I believe that the Biden administration should ignore this ruling,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told CNN. “It is up to the Biden administration to enforce, to choose whether or not to enforce a ruling.”
And it seems they are considering doing just that. On Sunday, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who is known for his strong support for abortion, refused to dismiss the possibility of the administration disregarding Kacsmaryk’s ruling entirely. When asked about AOC’s call for Biden to ignore the ruling, he didn’t dispute it.
“Everything is on the table. The president said that way back when the Dobbs decision came out. Every option is on the table,” Becerra said. “An appeals court, the Supreme Court, whatever court has to understand that this ruling by this one judge overturns not just access to mifepristone, but possibly any number of drugs.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra says “everything is on the table” following a Texas federal judge’s ruling to suspend the FDA's approval of the medication abortion drug mifepristone https://t.co/Tk0NLZwafb pic.twitter.com/Ao2pAYqSx6
— CNN (@CNN) April 9, 2023
This, of course, is a rather dangerous suggestion that would set the dangerous precedent of future administrations ignoring court rulings they don’t like.
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