A Trump-appointed U.S. District Court judge could cut off America’s access to abortion pills if a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration prevails.
On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, Mini Timmaraju, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, the oldest abortion-rights organization in the U.S., explains how if Matthew Kacsmaryk–a federal judge in Texas appointed by Donald Trump–rules in favor of anti-abortion physicians to declare the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone unlawful, “it could halt domestic production of this important medication, abortion drug, and immediately cease distribution.
“When we say that this is in some ways a backdoor abortion ban that would affect blue states, what we mean is if you rely on medication abortion—and the vast majority of Americans do—and you’re in New York or California, or Illinois, Minnesota, states that have codified protection to Roe, this is a way for them to get around that codification by halting access.
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“It is terrifying. It kind of defies logic.”
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The court could issue a ruling any day now. Timmaraju warned the courts are “packed by extremists thanks to Trump” and that “these are young judges” who “are going to be there for a very long time.”
The Biden administration can appeal to the 5th Circuit in New Orleans if a loss ensues, but if it fails in that conservative court it could end up being seen by the Supreme Court.
Then, Erik Conway, co-author of the book The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market, predicts where market fundamentalism stands in the 2020s.
“It sure looks to me like market fundamentalism is at least wobbling pretty strongly because neither political party in the U.S. believes in it anymore,” Conway tells host Andy Levy.
Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.
