Newsom, California lawmakers accuse judge blocking abortion pill of ‘radical political agenda’

California lawmakers called a federal judge’s decision to suspend access to an abortion pill an “assault on women’s health and dignity” and vowed to protect reproductive health care access in the Golden State.

Texas U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk on Friday issued a ruling that would stay the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2000 approval of mifepristone, a pill used to induce early-term abortions. Kacsmaryk’s decision does not take effect for seven days, giving President Joe Biden’s administration a window to appeal it.

Almost immediately after the ruling, a federal judge in Washington state ordered the FDA to continue to make the pill available. The dueling judicial orders mean that the matter is likely to be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kacsmaryk’s decision sparked outrage from reproductive rights advocates.

“Today’s ruling, by an extremist judge pursuing a radical political agenda, ignores facts, science, and the law — putting the health of millions of women and girls at risk,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “Abortion is still legal and accessible here in California and we won’t stand by as fundamental freedoms are stripped away.”

Another drug, misoprostol, is also used for medication abortions. However, most pregnant people seeking abortions follow a treatment plan that includes both mifepristone and misoprostol.

More than 50% of all abortion-seekers in the United States obtained one using medication, as opposed to seeking a surgical procedure, the Guttmacher Institute reported in February.

American Medical Association president Jack Resneck, Jr. said the decision “flies in the face of science and evidence.”

“By rejecting medical facts, the court has intruded into the exam room and has intervened in decisions that belong to patients and physicians,” Resneck said in a statement. “The court’s rebuff of scientific facts also undermines informed decisions, erodes trust in institutions, exacerbates social divides, and places individual and collective health at risk.”

California Legislative Women’s Caucus chair Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, and vice chair Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters, called the decision an “assault on women’s health and dignity.”

“That one anti-abortion judge has the power to block access to a safe and medically proven treatment is an outrage,” Skinner and Curry said. “This decision does not just affect Texans. By reversing federal approval of an essential medicine, this decision imposes a doctrinaire, personally held belief on each and every American, a majority of whom stand firm in their own beliefs that women deserve the right to control their own bodies and health care.”

Skinner and Aguiar-Curry assured Californians that “misoprostol remains a fully legal, viable, and safe medication for abortion.” But they expressed support for any Biden administration moves to to appeal the decision.

“California will not back down,” Skinner and Aguiar-Curry said. “We remain steadfastly committed to safeguarding access to reproductive care and abortion services and to legally protect our health providers and those who seek services.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2023 at 5:39 PM.