Biden administration to appeal Texas abortion pill ruling

The Biden administration plans to appeal a ruling that a Texas judge made about the abortion pill, which stated that the pill was not properly approved. 

Texas U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee who serves on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) improperly rushed the approval process for the pill, violating federal standards. 

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a statement in support of the FDA.

"The Justice Department 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," the statement reads.

President Joe Biden called the ruling a "political" and "ideological" attack. 

"If this ruling were to stand, then there will be virtually no prescription, approved by the FDA, that would be safe from these kinds of political, ideological attacks," the president stated, according to The Hill.  

The pill, mifepristone, was approved in 2000 after a four-year approval process, according to the outlet. "It can be used for abortions up to 10 weeks into pregnancy and to manage early miscarriages."

Biden also said this ruling puts women's health at risk. 

"The lawsuit, and this ruling, is another unprecedented step in taking away basic freedoms from women and putting their health at risk," he continued. 

In a separate and conflicting ruling on Friday that was handed down at almost the same time as the one in Texas, U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice, an Obama appointee, blocked the FDA from pulling mifepristone from the market.