By Hope Yen —
The Associated Press
The country's top health official said on Sunday that a court ruling threatening the availability of an abortion pill "does not reflect the United States," and did not rule out the possibility of defying the judge's orders if necessary.
"We want the courts to overturn this irresponsible ruling," Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told
CNN's
State of the Union program.
“We do want women to continue to have access to a drug that has been shown to be safe.
Millions of women have used this drug around the world,” she added.
[Approval of abortion pill mifepristone suspended]
She emphasized that,
for now, women do have access to mifepristone
after a federal judge in Texas appointed by then-President Donald Trump, Matthew Kacsmaryk, on Friday postponed his ruling for a week so the federal government can file a motion against it. .
The drug was approved in 2000 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is overseen by the Department of Health, which is run by Becerra.
A US judge revokes the nationwide approval of the abortion pill
April 8, 202302:50
President Joe Biden has declared that his Administration will oppose the ruling issued in Texas.
Kacsmaryk's 67-page ruling gives the government seven days to appeal.
“
Our intention is to do everything we can to keep the drug available
, not just a week from now, but ultimately, in the future, because mifepristone is one of the safest and most effective drugs that we have seen in the last 20 years to help to women in their medical care, especially in care related to an abortion,” Becerra said.
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Asked if he could recommend that the FDA ignore a court ruling, Becerra replied: "Everything is on the table."
There is uncertainty about the abortion pill, the most common method of abortion in the United States, due to two conflicting court rulings — one in Texas and one in Washington — on the legality of mifepristone.
Boxes of mifepristone on a shelf at the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
The drug was approved by the FDA in 2000. Allen G. Breed / AP
Kacsmaryk's decision, which orders a pause on the official approval of mifepristone, contradicted decades of scientific advice.
But a near-simultaneous ruling by Barack Obama appointee Judge Thomas O. Rice in Washington orders authorities not to make any changes that would restrict access to the drug in at least 17 states where Democrats have sued to guarantee such access.
Becerra said that the Kacsmaryk ruling could have dire repercussions for the legality of any drug approved by the FDA —such as insulin or drugs against Alzheimer's disease— since it seeks to “turn upside down” the entire approval process of the drug. FDA.
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Becerra acknowledged that there is "a good chance" that the case will end up being decided in the Supreme Court, which last year overturned the Roe v.
Wade, which gave women the right to decide about their pregnancy.
“If a judge decides to place his criteria or preference above the opinion of health professionals, what medicine will be exempt from any judicial challenge?
That is why we have to go to court,” Becerra said.
Health Secretary Xavier Becerra promised a vigorous legal fight by the Biden administration to maintain women's access to the abortion pill.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP
“What we have seen from a single judge, in a single court, in a single state, that is not the United States,” Becerra added.
“The United States is a country that decides based on evidence.
The United States is a country that does the right thing.
America is a country that does what is transparent, and we can show that what we do, we do it for the right reasons."
In an appearance after Becerra on CNN, Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, stated that "it's important that we take care of women" and "that
we have real discussions about women's health care"
but "we have to get out of this conversation about abortion.
Women have many other problems that have nothing to do with abortion.
... Let's talk about other things that are going on in this world,” he said.