Abortion Pill Case Nothing to do with Abortion
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The US Supreme Court is expected to rule by Friday whether to halt an appeals court ruling on the commonly used abortion pill mifepristone.
CBS News Legal Analyst Thane Rosenbaum told WKOK’s On The Mark Thursday the case isn’t about abortion, “Can a federal judge in the separation of powers tell a federal agency that has their own experts to say, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about and I’m second guessing you and over ruling you.’ That’s what this case is about.”
The lower court order in Texas would increase the gestational age limit for using the drug from seven to 10 weeks, reduce the number of required in-person clinic visits needed for a prescription, and broaden the set of healthcare providers able to prescribe the drug.
Rosenbaum says the Texas judge is arguing the pill has severe side effects that have negatively affected women, “He’s saying, ‘You rushed the process. You turned this into an approval process that was different than what it should’ve been. You treated this as a life-saving drug and it’s not supposed to be. It should’ve gone through a different set of tests.”
Rosenbaum explains why drug manufacturers have said the ruling would cause ‘chaos,’ “Drug manufacturers spend millions of dollars testing drugs and then they finally get to use it if they get FDA approval. They get to recoup the money they spent in research and development and start selling it. The drug companies will go out of business and are always going to be vulnerable that some federal judge is going to say, ‘You made a mistake.’”
The Supreme Court’s temporary pause of the lower court order expires at 11:59 p.m. Friday. You can hear more analysis on this case from CBS News Legal Analyst Thane Rosenbaum on the WKOK.com Podcast Page or wherever you listen to podcasts.
