WASHINGTON (AP) – The nation’s top health official said Sunday that a court ruling that threatens the availability of a major drug used for medical abortions is “un-American” and that he will not rule out a judge’s order if necessary.
“We want the court to overturn this reckless decision,” Xavier Becerra, President Joe Biden’s health secretary, told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We want, yes, women to continue to have access to medicine that has been proven safe. Millions of women have used this medicine all over the world.
He confirmed that now, women have access to the abortion drug mifepristone after a federal judge in Texas, Donald Trump-appointee Matthew Kacsmaryk, placed his decision from Friday for a week so that federal officials can file a challenge. The drug was approved in 2000 by the Food and Drug Administration, which is overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services headed by Becerra.
“For America and for women, we must win,” she said.
Biden said his administration would fight the Texas decision. Kacsmaryk’s 67-page order gave the government seven days to appeal.
“We are going to do everything to ensure that it is available to them not only in a week, but going forward, because mifepristone is one of the safest and most effective drugs that we have seen in the last 20 years to help women. health care, especially abortion care,” Becerra said.
Asked if he could recommend that the FDA ignore the ban, Becerra said, “Everything is on the table.”
There is uncertainty about access to the most commonly used abortion method in the United States after two separate and conflicting court rulings in Texas and Washington on the legality of mifepristone.
Kacsmaryk’s ruling ruled that federal approval for mifepristone overturns decades of scientific consensus. But a similar decision in the state of Washington by US District Judge Thomas O. Rice, appointed by Barack Obama, directed US authorities not to make changes that would limit access to the drug in at least 17 states sued by Democrats. efforts to protect availability.
Becerra said Kacsmaryk’s order could have a negative impact on the legality of FDA-approved drugs, such as vaccines, insulin or new Alzheimer’s drugs coming to market because it seeks to “circumvent” the entire FDA approval process.
The former attorney general of California admitted “a good chance” that the case will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court, which last year overturned Roe v. Wade and curtailed access to abortion between states.
“If the judge decides to change his choice, his personal opinion to scientists and medical professionals, what medicine is not subject to legal challenges? So we have to go to court,” he said.
Alluding to Kacsmaryk, the Cabinet secretary said: “What you see by one judge in one court, in one country, is not America. America through evidence. America does what is fair. America does what is transparent and we can show that what we do it for the right reasons.
Appearing after Becerra on CNN, Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, said “it’s important that we take care of women” and have “a real discussion on women’s health care” but “shut down the abortion conversation. Women have other problems than just abortion. … Let’s talk about other things that happens in this world.