Health and Human Services Secretary calls ruling threatening access to abortion drug ‘extreme’

NORCROSS, Ga. — During a stop in Gwinnett County, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra called a ruling threatening access to a long-used abortion drug “extreme.”

“And then to have one judge, in one court, in one state saying for everyone in America? No, that’s extreme,” Becerra said.

Becerra was in Norcross along with Georgia’s Senator Jon Ossoff to talk about low-cost insulin for seniors, but just days after the ruling by a Texas judge invalidating the Food and Drug Administration’s approval process for Mifepristone, he wanted to talk about that, too.

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“We have a very strong case,” Becerra said. " The FDA has followed all the rules and used the evidence to make the decision. We feel very confident that ultimately, we will prevail in court.”

The Texas federal judge who made the ruling also stayed it for seven days to give the US Department of Justice time to file an appeal which it did Monday.

Just an hour after that Texas ruling, a federal judge in Washington state issued an opposing ruling, meaning this case could very well wind up in the US Supreme Court.

Mifepristone was approved more than 20 years ago and, according to doctors, has been used safely since then.

This ruling calls into question the process used by the FDA back then to approve it. 

The drug is legal in Georgia so long as it is prescribed and used before approximately six weeks into a pregnancy as is covered by the Heartbeat Abortion Law, also known as the LIFE Act.

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That law was overturned by a Fulton County judge last year and is now before the Georgia Supreme Court which heard arguments last month. 

Justices ordered that the law remain in effect until they make their ruling.

Becerra promises the Biden Administration will fight this latest ruling out of Texas.

“Mifepristone is still legal for use,” Becerra said. “Mifepristone is still available today, and we are going to do everything we can within the legal process to ensure that doesn’t change.”

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