PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF GREATER NEW YORK ON NEW MEDICATION ABORTION RESTRICTIONS AS OUTDATED, HARMFUL TO PATIENTS AND PROVIDERS 

NEW YORK, NY – In the middle of the night, two Trump-nominated judges of a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel largely denied the Biden administration’s request to issue a stay of the district court ruling in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine et al v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration et al, meaning that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone is still in grave jeopardy. However, the courts’ orders have not yet taken effect, leaving abortion access intact for now. Planned Parenthood of Greater New York will continue to provide medication abortion to those who need it. 

Statement from Wendy Stark, President & CEO, Planned Parenthood of Greater New York:  

This is yet another court allowing a politically motivated lawsuit to jeopardize the health of millions of people, including thousands of New Yorkers, who rely on mifepristone for abortion care. It’s enraging that these judges think they have the authority to rewrite the label of this critical medication. This baseless case is another attempt to restrict access to abortion and interfere with providers’ ability to do their job. If allowed to stand, the consequences of this decision will be catastrophic and will also set a dangerous precedent for the entire drug approval system. 

Everyone should have the ability to make decisions about their own reproductive lives and futures, including choosing the method of abortion that works best for them. Attempts to compromise access to abortion do not erase the need for abortion care. Planned Parenthood of Greater New York will not allow a judge in Texas to interfere with abortion access in our state. We will continue to offer our patients safe, legal abortion services – including medication abortion. We are committed to care, no matter what.

No court has ever ordered the FDA to take a medication off the market because of their own judgment about the safety of the medication. If allowed to take effect, the ruling could devastate the ability of patients to access the drug for medication abortion and miscarriage care nationwide – even in states where abortion remains legal – and disrupt the FDA’s process for approving essential drugs.  

 In fact, 650 individuals, companies, and groups filed briefs this week urging the 5th Circuit to keep access to medication abortion.   

“[R]regulatory flexibility and respect for FDA’s scientific judgment are crucial to fostering the development of new and innovative drugs. The district court’s decision will shatter FDA’s ‘gold standard’ of review,” said an amicus brief by Pharmaceutical companies, pharmaceutical company executives, and industry investors, including Pfizer Inc., Gilead Sciences, Inc., and Biotechnology Innovation Organization. 

An amicus brief by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), American Medical Association (AMA) and 10 other medical and health organizations explains that Judge Kacsmaryk’s “decision is rife with medically inappropriate assumptions and terminology. It disregards decades of unambiguous analysis supporting the use of mifepristone in miscarriage and abortion care. It relies on pseudoscience and on speculation, and adopts wholesale and without appropriate judicial inquiry the assertions of a small group of declarants who are ideologically opposed to abortion care and at odds with the overwhelming majority of the medical community and the FDA.” 

This attack isn't about mifepristone’s safety. Instead, it is a transparent attempt by anti-abortion activists to use the judicial system to ban abortion nationwide. 

If allowed to stand, the consequences of this disastrous ruling will fall most on those who are disproportionately affected by abortion bans: Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities, people with low incomes, immigrants, and those living in rural communities.