Missouri, Kansas, Idaho ask to join lawsuit against abortion drug access

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Update:

• Missouri, Kansas and Idaho asked to intervene and join a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over the abortion drug mifepristone.
• The lawsuit challenges the FDA rollback of precautions regarding mifepristone in 2016, the 2019 approval of the generic version of the drug and the 2021 and 2023 policy decisions to approve mail-order mifepristone.
• The lawsuit says it challenges the FDA’s “repeated, long-running failure to abide by its legal obligations to protect the health, safety and welfare of women and girls and comply with statutory law when the FDA authorized the chemical abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol for use in the United States.”

Abortion drug lawsuit overview: 

• Who: A federal judge in Texas reversed his decision to delay docketing a hearing for a lawsuit filed against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by anti-abortion activists hours after reporters and media outlets published a letter accusing him of violating the U.S. Constitution by allegedly trying to keep it a secret. 
• Why: The judge had initially chosen to delay docketing the hearing in an attempt to avoid the potential for disruptive protests at the courthouse during it.
• Where: The lawsuit was filed in Texas federal court.

(March 20, 2023)

A federal judge in Texas has chosen to docket a hearing for a lawsuit filed against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by anti-abortion activists, following pushback by reporters and media outlets accusing the judge of trying to keep it a secret. 

The lawsuit in question was filed against the FDA by anti-abortion activists wanting the federal agency to rescind approvals for abortion drugs, such as mifepristone and misoprostol, Law360 reports. 

Reports and media outlets, meanwhile, published a letter written March 13 addressed to the judge overseeing the case, Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, in which they argued he was violating the U.S. Constitution by allegedly keeping the schedule for the hearing secret. 

Judge Kacsmaryk had announced the court would “delay docketing of the notice of an upcoming hearing” while requesting “the parties not make the hearing schedule public before it is docketed,” according to a Washington Post report. 

The letter to Judge Kacsmaryk was written in collaboration by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and multiple news outlets — including The Washington Post and NBCUniversal News Group, among others. 

Court updates docket hours after media published letter written to Texas judge

The court ultimately updated its docket only hours after the letter was published, to indicate that a hearing for the lawsuit was set for March 15, Law360 reports. 

“The Court’s delayed docketing of notice of Wednesday’s hearing, and its request to the parties and their counsel not to disclose the hearing schedule publicly, harm everyone, including those who support the plaintiffs’ position and those who support the defendants’ position,” the letter stated. 

Judge Kacsmaryk reportedly initially chose to delay docketing the hearing until late March 14, allegedly to try to avoid the potential for disruptive protests taking place at the courthouse. 

A group of five women filed a lawsuit against Texas earlier this month over claims that medical professionals in the state are hesitant to perform abortions due to “uncertainty surrounding the meaning of exception” for the state’s bans on the procedure.

Do you believe the Texas federal judge was wrong for allegedly wanting to delay docketing the court hearing? Let us know in the comments.

The abortion drug lawsuit is Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, et al. v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, et al., Case No. 2:22-cv-00223, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• 5 women sue Texas after being denied abortions during medical crises
• Charter class action claims company fails to prorate canceled Internet service
• Possible baby formula contamination leads to recalled products, federal investigation
• FDA instructs baby formula companies to inform it of bacteria discoveries