The nation\u2019s top health official said Sunday that a\u2002court ruling\u2002threatening the availability of a main drug used in\u2002medication abortion was \u201cnot America\u201d and he did not rule out defying the judge\u2019s order if necessary.
\u201cWe want the courts to overturn this reckless decision,\u201d Xavier Becerra, President Joe Biden\u2019s health secretary, told CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union.\u201d \u201cWe want, yes, that women continue to have access to a drug that\u2019s proven itself safe. Millions of women have used this drug around the world.\u201d
He stressed that for now, women do have access to the abortion medication mifepristone after a federal judge in Texas, Donald Trump-appointee Matthew Kacsmaryk, put his ruling from Friday on hold for a week so federal officials could file a challenge. The drug was approved in 2000 by the Food and Drug Administration, which is overseen by the Health and Human Services Department headed by Becerra.
\u201cFor America\u2019s sake and for women\u2019s sake, we have to prevail in this,\u201d he said.
Biden has said his administration would fight the Texas ruling. Kacsmaryk\u2019s 67-page order gave the government seven days to appeal.
\u201cWe intend to do everything to make sure it\u2019s available to them not just in a week, but moving forward, period, because mifepristone is one of the safest and most effective medicines that we have seen over the last 20 years to help women with their health care, especially abortion care,\u201d Becerra said.
Asked whether he might recommend that the FDA ignore a ban, Becerra said, \u201cEverything is on the table.\u201d
There is uncertainty about access to the most commonly used method of abortion in the United States following two separate and conflicting court rulings in Texas and Washington over the legality of mifepristone.
Kacsmaryk\u2019s decision ordering a hold on federal approval of mifepristone overruled decades of scientific approval. But a ruling at nearly the same time in Washington state from that U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice, a Barack Obama appointee, directed U.S. authorities not to make any changes that would restrict access to the drug in at least 17 states where Democrats sued in an effort to protect availability.
Becerra said Kacsmaryk\u2019s order could have dire ramifications for the legality of any FDA-approved drug, such as vaccines, insulin or new Alzheimer\u2019s drugs coming onto the market because it seeks to \u201cturn upside down\u201d the entire FDA approval process.
The former California attorney general acknowledged a \u201cgood chance\u201d that the case will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court, which last year overturned Roe v. Wade and curtailed access to abortion across the country.
\u201cIf a judge decides to substitute his preference, his personal opinion for that of scientists and medical professionals, what drug isn\u2019t subject to some kind of legal challenge? So we have to go to court,\u201d he said.
Alluding to Kacsmaryk, the Cabinet secretary said: \u201cWhat you saw by that one judge in that one court, in that one state, that\u2019s not America. America goes by the evidence. America does what\u2019s fair. America does what is transparent and we can show that what we do is for the right reasons.\u201d
Appearing after Becerra on CNN, Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, said \u201cit\u2019s important that we take care of women\u201d and have \u201creal discussions on women\u2019s health care\u201d but \u201cget off the abortion conversation. Women have a whole lot more other issues than just abortion. \u2026 Let\u2019s talk about the other things that are happening in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n