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Weekly Digest
Letter from an Editor | February 11, 2023
Dear John,
A Trump-appointed federal district court judge in Texas will soon rule in a case that could have drastic consequences for abortion access and miscarriage care nationwide.
The lawsuit, led by conservative anti-abortion legal organization, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) on behalf of four antiabortion medical organizations and several doctors, challenges the FDA’s approval of the medication mifepristone—which, together with the drug misoprostol, is used for medication abortions. Mifepristone has been used in the U.S. for over two decades—and even longer in Europe and the rest of the world—to end early pregnancies, as well as manage miscarriages.
The lawsuit claims that the FDA did not have sufficient proof of mifepristone’s safety—and that the FDA unlawfully fast-tracked its approval—despite the fact that there is extensive evidence showing that abortion pills are safe and effective.
Notably, the ADF chose to file the case in the Amarillo Division of the Northern District of Texas—where it was assigned to Trump-appointed Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, who previously served as deputy general counsel for Christian conservative legal organization First Liberty Institute. Kacsmaryk has also previously publicly expressed opposition to abortion, birth control, no-fault divorce and same-sex marriage, among other things, as Ms . contributing editor Carrie Baker previously reported.
“He is an anti-LGBT activist and culture warrior who does not respect the equal dignity of all people,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) during his Senate confirmation hearing, reading from a letter of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “His record reveals a hostility to LGBT equality and to women’s health, and he would not be able to rule fairly and impartially in cases involving those issues.”
The ADF also previously represented the state of Mississippi in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization —the case which led the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade .
The decision on this lawsuit could result in a nationwide ban on mifepristone—even in states where abortion is legal. Currently, medication abortion accounts for over half of all abortions in the U.S. While a misoprostol-only abortion is also an option, studies show that it can be less effective.
The outcome of the lawsuit could have far-reaching impact, beyond abortion. Because mifepristone blocks the action of the hormone progesterone, which is necessary to sustain a pregnancy, it can also be used as a treatment for progesterone-dependent cancers and other life-threatening conditions that disproportionately affect women.
You can be sure that Ms . is closely monitoring the outcome of this crucial case.
Onward,
[[link removed]]
Kathy Spillar
Executive Editor
P.S. — We’re thrilled to announce that you can now pre-order our extraordinary book, due out later this year: 50 YEARS OF Ms.: THE BEST OF THE PATHFINDING MAGAZINE THAT IGNITED A REVOLUTION (Alfred A. Knopf). Pre-order from Indie Bound [[link removed]] , Amazon [[link removed]] , or Barnes & Noble [[link removed]] today!
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[link removed] [[link removed]] Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on
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Before Roe v. Wade , if you were in need of an abortion in Chicago, there was a number you could call, run by young women who called themselves Jane. They’d provide abortions to women who had nowhere else to turn. It was started by Heather Booth when she was 19 years old. In this episode, Booth joins Dr. Goodwin to discuss the history of the Jane Collective and the connections between our pre-Roe past and post-Roe future. Where do we go from here?
We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!
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