Two recent federal court decisions have resulted in contradictory rulings impacting the availability of mifepristone nationwide. Mifepristone is a drug used in medical abortion procedures and in managing miscarriages.
On April 7, 2023, Amarillo Division of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, ruling on the case Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, issued a preliminary injunction suspending the approval of mifepristone, incorrectly claiming the FDA should have never approved it because they did not have adequate data to determine that it was safe.
On the same day, Eastern District of Washington federal district Judge Thomas O. Rice issued a separate injunction in a separate case forcing the FDA to maintain the distribution of mifepristone in the 17 states and the District of Columbia that filed the lawsuit.
Shakira Henderson, PhD, DNP, MS, MPH, RNC-NIC, IBCLC, President of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, issued the following statement:
“Patients deserve access to evidence-based care. Limiting access to evidence-based care that supports the ability to make informed reproductive decisions is perpetuating the notion that health care is a privilege when in fact, it is a right.”
AWHONN’s position is reproductive health care decisions should take place between the well-informed patient and the licensed health care clinician. These personal and private decisions are implemented within a health care system whose clinicians respect the patient’s right to make informed decisions based upon their personal values and preferences.
