"The Court hereby STAYS the effective date of FDA's [Food and Drug Administration's] September 28, 2000, Approval of mifepristone and all subsequent challenged actions related to that approval - the 2016 changes, the 2019 General Approval, and the 2021 Actions," judge Matthew Kacsmaryk wrote in the court document on Friday.
As part of the lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued that the substance was approved under former President Bill Clinton in a fast-track procedure. However, this is only permissible for substances that counteract disease, of which pregnancy is not considered a not a disease. Consequently, the authorization is illegal.
The court order is set to take effect in seven days, according to the filing.
The delay of the order to take effect is meant to give the federal government time to file an appeal, media reported.
Yet the Department of Justice has already released a statement from Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, which reads that the DOJ "strongly disagrees with the decision of the District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA and will be appealing the court’s decision and seeking a stay pending appeal."
However, a US judge in the state of Washington issued an order prohibiting the federal government from taking mifepristone off the market. The conflicting ruling is anticipated to create a standoff before the US Supreme Court.
Moreover, the Democratic National Committee released a statement regarding Kacsmaryk's decision, which says that "Democrats will do everything in our power to fight back to ensure access to safe and legal abortion is protected, and voters will hold every last Republican accountable for an extreme anti-choice agenda that takes away Americans’ freedoms and puts their health at risk."
The American Civil Liberties Union also said that its lawyers will try to review the decision to revoke the Mifepristone approval.
Adding to the widespread condemnation of the Friday development, US President Joe Biden remarked in a White House release that his administration would "fight" the legal move tooth and nail.