Federal judge in Amarillo to rule on potential abortion pill ban ‘as soon as possible’

AMARILLO (CBSNewsTexas.com) — After a four-hour hearing on Wednesday, a federal judge in Amarillo is deciding whether to restrict the sale of abortion pills or ban them entirely.

District Judge Matthew Kaczmarik said he would issue a ruling “as soon as possible.”

This is all part of a civil lawsuit filed last November against the FDA, the US Department of Health and Human Services and others by the Hippocratic Medicine Alliance, which represents anti-abortion organizations and doctors.

Abortion rights groups say the drug mifepristone is unsafe and should not be sold.

Abortion rights groups insist it is safe and point to the fact that the FDA approved it 23 years ago.

The court never removed the drug from the market for many years after it was approved by the FDA.

During a Zoom interview with reporters Wednesday afternoon, abortion rights advocate and former Democratic state senator Wendy Davis slammed the civil lawsuit.

“This should be a wake up call and a real test of intuition for all of us,” she said. “These anti-abortion fanatics are going to stop at nothing until they take away the right to bodily autonomy and access to reproductive health to people in every state in this country.”

The Hippocratic Medicine Alliance said the Biden administration’s policy of allowing mail-order distribution of the drug is wrong and they want the drug to be banned nationwide.

In an interview with CBS News Texas on Wednesday, Jonathan Saenz, president of the conservative group Texas Values, said: “If the Biden administration wants to keep pushing for on-demand abortion, wants to bypass the process, wants to ignore women’s legitimate interests and young ladies are going to suffer, that’s what we don’t want to see, especially in the state of Texas.”

On Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to reporters in Texas and dismissed the lawsuit, calling it “an unprecedented attack on drugs… These attacks are not only an attack on a woman’s fundamental freedom to make decisions about her body, but fundamentally also an attack on the scientific process.” which is critical to public health.”

According to Texas law, abortion pills cannot be distributed by mail, and women are not allowed to use them after the seventh week of pregnancy.

Attorney General Ken Paxton recently sent letters to CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons Companies and Costco warning them not to mail drugs.

But the FDA has allowed mail-order sales to women up to the tenth week of pregnancy.

CBS News Texas asked U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra about this during a stop in Dallas on Feb. 8. “We will fight tooth and nail to make sure that in court, in Congress or in public opinion, we make it clear to everyone that every woman in this country has the right to access healthcare.”

Saenz said, “Texas is in the middle of its legislative session. Other states too. We should be able to look at this for ourselves and decide what is best without letting the federal government dictate these questions.”

Most abortions in Texas are done with medication.

Records from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission show that 17,203 abortions were performed in the state between January and October last year.

Of these, 11,719 were taking medication.

The number of abortions dropped sharply after a new state law went into effect in August banning most abortions.

The state law came into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.