By PAUL J. WEBER and JESSICA GRESKO
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled that the abortion pill mifepristone can still be used for now but reduced the period of pregnancy when the drug can be taken and said it could not be dispensed by mail.
The decision late Wednesday temporarily narrowed a ruling by a lower court judge in Texas that had completely blocked the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the nation’s most commonly used method of abortion. Still, preventing the pill from being sent by mail amounts to another significant curtailing of abortion access — less than a year after the reversal of Roe v. Wade resulted in more than a dozen states effectively banning abortion outright.
The case is likely to go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“We are going to continue to fight in the courts, we believe the law is on our side, and we will prevail,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday, speaking to reporters from Dublin during a visit by President Joe Biden.
Mifepristone was approved for use by the FDA more than two decades ago and is used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol.
In a far-reaching ruling last week, a federal judge blocked the FDA’s approval of the pill following a lawsuit by the drug’s opponents. There is virtually no precedent for a lone judge overturning the regulator’s medical decisions.
