(VitalNews.org) – Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon boldly called for the Biden Administration and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ignore the rule of law if an upcoming court decision bans the controversial abortion drug mifepristone.
A case before federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk features plaintiffs who claim the FDA was wrong to approve mifepristone and that the court should ban the drug. The outcome of the case, which also depends on a case before the US Supreme Court, may prohibit the sale and distribution of the drug.
Wyden does not believe the White House or federal agencies should obey legal court orders. Writing on the social media platform Twitter, Wyden said he was calling on the FDA to “protect the safety of every woman in America” by keeping mifepristone legal “no matter the ruling.”
In the American legal system, no one may defy court orders without inviting further legal force, including sitting politicians, no matter how high their office is. Neither can federal agencies ignore legally issued orders from American courts.
In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe vs Wade decision. That landmark decision restricted the ability of US states to ban or restrict abortion in key ways. The decision set up a trimester timetable by which all states had to abide. States had little latitude to ban or limit abortion during the early stages of pregnancy.
When SCOTUS overturned Roe last year, abortion advocates were incensed. Many claimed (incorrectly) that overturning Roe meant the Supreme Court had taken away what they call a woman’s right to abortion. The 2022 decision did not take away any rights from women.
Instead, it returned the right to govern abortion to the individual states, as was the case before the Roe decision in 1973. Today, US states may restrict or permit abortion with wide latitude.
Some states, such as Alabama, now have near-total bans on the procedure. Liberal Vermont, by contrast, has no restrictions on abortion. Women living in Vermont have a right to terminate their pregnancies up to and including the last day of the ninth month of pregnancy.
Copyright 2023, VitalNews.org
