A Republican-appointed federal judge in Texas issued an order suspending the US government's decades-old approval of a key drug used in medication abortion, initiating a process that could block access to the pill nationwide in a week.

But his order Friday was almost immediately contradicted by a Democratic-appointed judge in Washington state who affirmed the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone and blocked the government from restricting access.

The competing orders just minutes apart signal the issue is almost certainly bound for the US Supreme Court, potentially setting up another politically seismic ruling a year after the high court's conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Consumer Driven Health Care
Core and Group Health
Health Care Reform
Employer-Paid