US appeals court puts Texas abortion pill ban on hold
A US appeals court has ruled that abortion pills containing the drug mifepristone should remain available at least temporarily but has allowed tighter restrictions on how patients access the drug.
The ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued late on Wednesday granted an emergency request by the Biden administration to put on hold a Texas court ruling last week overturning regulator’s approval of mifepristone more than two decades ago.
This week more than 400 executives in the pharmaceutical industry published an open letter warning the judgment would diminish the authority of government agencies and put the industry at risk.
“Judicial activism will not stop here,” they wrote. “If courts can overturn drug approvals without regard for science or evidence, or for the complexity required to fully vet the safety and efficacy of new drugs, any medicine is at risk for the same outcome as mifepristone.”
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Jamie Smyth
