In Bloomberg Law, Joshua Oyster Discusses Conflicting Court Orders in Abortion Pill State Battles

In a Bloomberg Law article, life sciences regulatory & compliance partner Joshua Oyster discussed conflicting court orders between conservative and liberal states in legal maneuvers that seek to restrict access to abortion drug mifepristone.

In the District Court for the Northern District of Texas Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA case Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that mifepristone was improperly approved. Later that day, in a case brought by Washington State and other mostly Democrat-led states, Judge Thomas Rice of the District Court for the Eastern District of Washington blocked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from making changes to the drug that would make mifepristone less available.

The Washington and Texas cases both challenge FDA safety decisions known as risk evaluation and mitigation strategies (REMS) on mifepristone.

In order for liberal states to succeed in having the mifepristone REMS eliminated, the Washington court would need to get into the weeds of FDA’s scientific decision making. “Historically, it’s not been something that the courts have done to second-guess these types of FDA decisions,” said Joshua.