US health secretary Xavier Becerra said the Biden administration was weighing “every option” to fight a Texas judge’s “reckless” ruling that would withdraw approval for an abortion drug if upheld.
Becerra said the decision by Texas federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk would imperil women’s access to critical healthcare in America, as well as threaten the entire approval process of the US Food and Drug Administration.
“What you saw by that one judge in that one court in that one state — that’s not America,” Becerra said on CNN on Sunday.
“America goes by the evidence. America does what’s fair. America does what is transparent and we can show that what we do is for the right reasons.”
Kacsmaryk’s decision to put a hold on FDA approval for mifepristone after a seven-day appeal period came the same day that a federal judge in Washington state issued a ruling in a separate case that compelled the agency to keep mifepristone available. The conflicting rulings increase the likelihood that the issue will end up at the Supreme Court.
The administration has already filed an appeal against the Texas decision. President Joe Biden has warned that the ruling, if it stands, “would prevent women in every state from accessing the medication, regardless of whether abortion is legal in a state”.
Becerra argued that the judge’s decision to revoke US approval for mifepristone after more than two decades could endanger the supply of other FDA-approved drugs, including those that had nothing to do with women’s health or abortion.
“First and foremost, when you turn upside down the entire FDA approval process, you’re not talking about just mifepristone, you’re talking about every kind of drug. You’re talking about our vaccines, you’re talking about insulin, you’re talking about the new Alzheimer’s drugs that may come on,” Becerra said.
“If a judge decides to substitute his preference, his personal opinion for that of scientists and medical professionals, what drug isn’t subject to some kind of legal challenge? So we have to go to court — and for America’s sake, and for women’s sake, we have to prevail on this,” he said.
Becerra said the administration would be considering other options as well, and would not rule out recommending that the FDA simply ignore it. Democratic lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called on the administration on Sunday to disregard the ruling.
“Everything is on the table. The president said that way back when the Dobbs decision came out,” Becerra said, referring to the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe vs Wade, which had previously legalised abortion nationwide. “Every option is on the table.”
The ruling in Texas is one of the most consequential since the Supreme Court last summer overturned the Roe vs Wade ruling that had protected women’s constitutional right to abortion for decades. Abortion-rights supporters have feared that ruling would clear the path for statewide bans on the procedure in Republican-led states.
Texas Republican congressman Tony Gonzales warned on Sunday that his party’s lawmakers could move to defund certain FDA programmes if the judge’s ruling was ignored.
“The House Republicans have the power of the purse, and if the administration wants to not lead this ruling, not live up to this ruling, then we’re going to have a problem,” Gonzales said.
“And it may come a point where House Republicans on the appropriation side have to defund FDA programs that don’t make sense.”