A federal court in Texas halted the USFDA approval of the abortion medicine mifepristone on Friday, calling into doubt access to the countrys most popular form of abortion in a decision that ignored decades of scientific approval.

This abortion medicine has been widely used in the United States since 2000, and there is virtually no precedence for a single judge overruling the Food and Drug Administrations medical determinations. Mifepristone is one of two medications used in the United States for medication abortion, the other being misoprostol, which is used to treat various medical disorders.

In Amarillo, Texas, a U.S. District Judge and Trump administration appointee signed an order requiring the FDA to delay mifepristone approval while a case challenging the drugs safety and approval continues. The rulings immediate implications were unclear, including how soon access to the abortion pill may be restricted.

The judge did not go as far as the plaintiffs desired, canceling or postponing authorization for chemical abortion medications and deleting them from the list of authorized pharmaceuticals. But, he placed a "stay" or hold on the drugs approval. His decision, however, does not take effect immediately since he permits the federal government seven days to file an appeal. The FDAs attorneys are anticipated to file an appeal quickly.

Clinics and physicians prescribing the two-drug combination have stated that if mifepristone is removed from the market, they will solely use the second medicine, misoprostol. This single-drug strategy is slightly less successful in terminating pregnancies, although it is extensively used in places where mifepristone is prohibited or unavailable.

(Source: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/us-judge-halts-fda-approval-of-abortion-pill-mifepristone-495341)