US health secretary says abortion pill ban threatens other meds

US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has said that a Texas court’s decision to block the abortion drug mifepristone could put other drugs at risk.

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in an interview with CNN On Sunday, Mr Becerra said the decision challenges the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) entire drug approval process and puts at risk access to drugs including vaccines, insulin and potential Alzheimer’s treatments.

“What drug is not subject to some kind of legal challenge if a judge decides to turn down their choice, their personal opinion, to scientists and medical professionals?” Mr. Becerra said on Sunday.

On Friday in Texas, US District Judge Matthew Kaczmarik ruled that the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, which occurred more than twenty years ago, was improper and should be suspended with seven days’ notice.

Within hours another district judge in Washington state, ruled against, The White House has vowed to challenge Judge Kaczmarik’s decision, meaning the case will almost certainly go to the US Court of Appeals and perhaps the conservative-dominated Supreme Court.

Mr Becerra also said on Sunday: “So we have to go to court, and we have to win for America’s sake and for women’s sake … I do believe that an appeals court, the Supreme Court, whatever court it is, understands that this Verdict Hereby a judge overturned access to not only mifepristone but possibly any number of drugs.”

Asked by CNN host Dana Bash whether the White House would be willing to ignore the decision if he lost in the High Court, Mr Becerra said: “Everything is on the table. The president said at the time [Roe v Wade] The decision was made. Every option is on the table.”

Abortion pills have become a new front in the fight for abortion rights Roe v Wade last June. Nearly half of US states have restricted or tightened access to abortion pills, according to Axios,

Conservative activists sued the FDA in November, claiming that mail-order mifepristone violates the Comstock Act, a 150-year-old law named after 19th-century Christian crusader Anthony Comstock, which made laws such as “contraception, sex education Was banned from sending “obscene” material. books, pornography and abortion drugs through the US postal system.

Although modern courts have consistently applied the law more narrowly, Judge Kaczmarik — who was appointed by former President Donald Trump and Reportedly campaigned against gay marriage and transgender rights Before joining the bench – held differently.