(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . A Single Judge In TX Could Outlaw The Abortion Pill Nationwide [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: 2023-02-07 Soon to be illegal: Abortion pills, women's rights to their own bodies, sanity In June of last year, SCOTUS overturned what at least 3 of the judges on the bench said was “settled law” in Roe v Wade. In the ruling, the majority supposedly “return[ed] the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives”. What it actually did was to strip the nation’s women from their right to choose what happens to their own bodies and the right to determine their own destiny. It was a huge stepping stone on the continual march to a theocratic nation that would give the commanders of Gilead pause (Under His Eye). The finale of this complete upheaval of self-determination and basic understanding of human rights was a promise that more rights would be taken away from an extremist and completely unchecked Supreme Court backed by extremist judges. Now, the inevitability of that promise coming true is here as a new lawsuit appears all but destined to strip away another avenue to reproductive rights. In a district in Amarillo, TX, a new lawsuit is working its way through that seeks to outright ban mifepristone, one of two medications used to end a pregnancy, is under fire from lead attorney Morrow Hawley, wife of Missouri GOP Senator and Jan 6 fist pump/200 yard sprint gold medalist Josh Hawley. What does Amarillo, TX have to do with mifepristone? Absolutely nothing. Except that there is a single judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, who seems tailor made to make the ruling the lawyers (and their financiers) want. Appointed by Trump in 2019, Kacsmaryk served as deputy council for the ill-named “First Liberty Institute” fighting against almost everything you would think a psychopathic misanthrope working for a far-right group called the “First Liberty Institute” would. Abortion, contraception, transgender rights (a “delusion” to him), border policy, protection for LGBTQ+ equality and employees, you name it. So, this small area of Amarillo, TX with one judge who believes himself to be the sole arbiter of law, order, and morality can single handedly ban medications proven to be at least 18 times safer than childbirth, is very easy to gain access to, is demonstrably reliable, and has been on the market for 23 years with a slew of data to back up its effectiveness. The lawsuit rests on the most flimsy of rationales that are now the go-to arguments for RWNJ lawsuits seeking to control the populace. Long ago, in the before times of rational legal thinking, there was a concept of “standing”; the idea that in order to bring a lawsuit to a court to seek relief from something, you have to have been harmed by that something. If your neighbor steals your lawnmower, you’ve been harmed by that action (the loss of use of that lawnmower, loss of your property, etc). It’s supposed to be a fairly direct “this happened and now I am deprived of a right” correlation. In other words, the injury must be “fairly traceable” to the action. How silly we were back then. Now, the idea of standing is quaint as RWNJ can use conjecture and theory in place of standing. Nothing ACTUALLY has to happen and no harm ACTUALLY has to occur. Just the IDEA that it COULD occur is more than enough. In this case, the plaintiffs (anti-abortion medical associations) make the claim that a hypothetical patient may hypothetically be prescribed mifepristone, hypothetically suffer a rare hypothetical side effect, and then hypothetically come to their clinics for assistance. Which has not happened. It’s all conjecture of a possible future event. The other issues with this case include the plaintiffs argument that the FDA fast tracked mifepristone to approval in 2000, which was, *checks calculator*, 23 years ago. The suit contends that the FDA approval process ignored potential adverse reactions in the rush to get it to market. Nevermind that in the, *double checks calculator* 23 years since, mifepristone is one of the most studied medications on the market. Specifically because of RWNJ howler monkey-esque screaming tendencies at anything remotely resembling abortions. In effect, if (and probably when) this judge sides with the plaintiffs, it absolutely could upend the long established FDA medication approval process, pharmacy dispensing procedures, insurance use (both medical insurance and malpractice insurance for providers), and would force women to seek abortion procedures; overwhelming an already breaking medical system with absurdly long wait lists. Which leads to the very real possibility that those wait times push the patient past the ridiculously short time limit for legal abortion procedures. The side effect of a single judge unilaterally withdrawing FDA approval for a long established medication would open the floodgates for more lawsuits. Oh, Pfizer has a new drug they want to get to market, but a competitor already has one? Sue that the FDA fast tracked it and there’s conjecture that it can have a side effect that might cause harm to pull it from the market. It absolutely is insane, immoral, unethical, and a deliberate attack on women’s rights and ability for reasonable and responsible family planning. And it will probably work. The judge is almost assured to side with the plaintiffs (they hand picked him by filing in Amarillo), it will get appealed to SCOTUS who, as they have demonstrated, don’t give a flying flip about stare decisis, standing, or any other legal concept as long as Roe v Wade and its protections are in a shallow grave. slate.com/... [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/7/2151569/-A-Single-Judge-In-TX-Could-Outlaw-The-Abortion-Pill-Nationwide 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/