In the most significant national development since the Dobbs decision, a federal district judge in Texas has issued a landmark ruling that the FDA violated the law when it gave emergency approval to RU-486 during the waning days of the Clinton Administration.
Folks who have followed the sordid history of this deadly drug and the FDA’s callous disregard for babies and women can only exclaim, “finally!” Finally, someone is holding the FDA accountable.
This agency has repeatedly caved to political pressure over the past twenty years when it comes to its approval of this drug. Beginning with Bill Clinton. It rushed through emergency approval of the drug to appease Clinton and his allies at Planned Parenthood. As the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has explained, that could only happen if the FDA took the step of treating pregnancy as some kind of disease needing an experimental “cure”. That is a very curious and disturbing position for an agency like the FDA to take, given its primary mission of protecting the public health.
The political and moral corruption of the FDA has been on display ever since. Over the years, it has repeatedly responded to pressure from Planned Parenthood to loosen the restrictions governing the use of RU-486. It eliminated the requirement of a follow-up visit from physicians. It eliminated the requirement that only doctors could prescribe the drug following an in-person examination of the pregnant woman to ensure that the drug was appropriate and safe for her to use. It eliminated the requirement that doctors ensure emergency care access if the woman developed complications – most often, hemorrhaging.
And, most recently, the FDA decided that a doctor’s visit was no longer a requirement to ensure a patient’s safety. Now one can simply get the drug through the mail or through a local pharmacy without a physician’s oversight. That is just plain dangerous.
Simultaneous to this disturbing history – the FDA has suppressed the reporting on complications associated with chemical abortions. The agency has disregarded laws requiring the publishing of data on deaths and complications. Nothing to see here. And nothing that will be allowed to interfere with the political agenda of the Abortion Lobby.
The national abortion rights movement has been in fits since Judge Matthew Kascmaryk issued a ruling which finds the FDA exceeded its authority to approve RU-486 for use in terminating a pregnancy. The Biden Administration and Big Pharma have declared all-out-war to get this decision overturned, even arguing that the judge’s decision should be “ignored” and defied.
Let us pray that this ruling is upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Not only will it lead to the saving of many lives – it will help, hopefully, to correct the abusive authority of the Food & Drug Administration.