(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Anti-choice activists sue to make medical abortions illegal even in states with legal abortion [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-01-23 “Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts.” — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of totalitarianism. Anti-abortion activists have sued the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Their complaint is that the FDA exceeded its authority by approving the anti-abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol in 2000. If a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas agrees with them, he could deny medical abortion to every woman in America — even in states where abortion is legal. The threat to women’s rights is potentially catastrophic. The Department of Justice has attempted to forestall the madness by telling the judge that, “Plaintiffs have pointed to no case, and the government has been unable to locate any example, where a court has second-guessed FDA’s safety and efficacy determination and ordered a widely available FDA-approved drug to be removed from the market — much less an example that includes a two-decade delay,” Will the judge be swayed by the DoJ’s claim that the requested action is unprecedented and ridiculously late? Who knows? But if there is one judge, not named judge Aileen Cannon, who is a leading candidate to side with misogyny, it is Matthew Joseph Kacsmaryk. This charmer was part of the Trumpian remake of the federal judiciary as a rights-crushing bastion of bigotry. The Senate confirmed his appointment along party lines, with Susan Collins being the sole Republican “no”. Before her vote, she explained her objection to the Washington Post. She noted Kacsmaryk had an “alarming bias against LGBTQ Americans and disregard for Supreme Court precedents.” She added, “Mr. Kacsmaryk has dismissed proponents of reproductive choice as ‘sexual revolutionaries,’ and disdainfully criticized the legal foundations of Roe v. Wade. Such extreme statements reflect poorly on Mr. Kacsmaryk’s temperament and suggest an inability to respect precedent and to apply the law fairly and impartially.” Unsurprisingly, the plaintiffs worked hard to get the case before this friendly face. In this proceeding, the plaintiffs are the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHA), the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), the American College of Pediatricians (ACP), and Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA), along with four doctors from California, Indiana, Michigan, and Texas. In the cases of the confessed 'Christian' CMDA and the proud ‘pro-life’ AAPLOG , their motivation is obvious — and it is not medical. The AHA boasts that it bases medical decisions on ‘moral integrity’ rather than pure medicine. The ACP states that life begins at conception. And that organization is not to be confused with the American Academy of Pediatrics ( AAP ), which represents the vast majority of pediatricians and bases its recommendations on medical science. The plaintiffs are pursuing a patently religious objective. However, that is not a medical argument. And it is a non-starter legally — even the most loyal Trump jurist could not allow the “my God says that women have no rights” argument in court. So these fanatics obfuscate their motive with cynical protestations that their only aim is to protect the mother's health. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a notorious anti-choice actor, is spearheading the lawsuit (Note: it takes gall to blazon ‘Freedom’ into your name when your mission is to deny free choice to half the American population). They say, “This case challenges the FDA’s failure to abide by its legal obligations to protect the health, safety, and welfare of women and girls when the agency authorized the chemical abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol for use in the United States and subsequently eliminated necessary safeguards for pregnant women and girls who undergo this dangerous drug regimen.” Orwell would be proud. If your sole motivation is the “health, safety, and welfare of women and girls” you would recommend every pregnant female get an abortion — as that is safer than giving birth. Worse, and something that would happen, is the risk to women's health, safety, and welfare that would be engendered by banning medical abortion. Because while the risks of all abortions are low, a surgical abortion is relatively riskier than a medical abortion. We do not have to search the medical literature for the effects of medical abortion on health. Numbers show the safety of the procedure. The risk of death is so slight that medical statisticians aggregate the data on a rolling seven-year basis. There are so few medical abortion deaths that the number in one year is statistically meaningless. And while every death is regrettable, nothing guarantees complete freedom from a fatality in any activity. If these sophists were really on a woman’s side then they would let her make her own choice. Unfortunately, even if Kacsmaryk decides against banning mifepristone and misoprostol, he can still hurt women. He could eliminate the mail-order option, reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement, re-apply in-person-dispensing to doctors alone instead of prescribing healthcare providers like physician’s assistants or nurse practitioners, or wipe out the 2016 FDA changes to when and how women can use the medications. Whatever the judge decides, the case will end up at the Supreme Court. And we know how much respect that lot has shown for women and reproductive choice. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/23/2148883/-Anti-choice-activists-sue-to-make-medical-abortions-illegal-even-in-states-with-legal-abortion Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/