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HARTFORD — After competing judges rulings Friday night cast the future of mifepristone, a widely used abortion drug, into uncertainty, Gov. Ned Lamont said an order by a federal judge that could curtail access to the drug is “yet another devasting attack on reproductive rights.”
“Pills such as mifepristone allow you to decide when you want to start a family, not the government,” the governor said in a statement issued by his office.
Access to the drug appeared to be open Friday night after court rulings by two separate judges in Texas and Washington that came just minutes apart.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, ordered a hold on federal approval of mifepristone in a decision that overruled decades of scientific approval. But that decision came at nearly same time that U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice, an Obama appointee, essentially ordered the opposite and directed U.S. authorities not to make any changes that would restrict access to the drug in at least 17 states where Democrats sued in an effort to protect availability.
Kacsmaryk’s ruling was made in a lawsuit filed by the Alliance Defending Freedom, the same group involved in the Mississippi case that overturned Roe v. Wade. The suit sought to suspend or overturn the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug in 2000. Instead, Kacsmaryk issued an injunction directing the FDA to stay mifepristone’s approval while a lawsuit challenging the safety and approval of the drug continues. His 67-page order gave the government seven days to appeal.
“This case is not about safety. This is about controlling medical decisions that should be between patients and their doctors,” Lamont said in his statement Friday night. “We will not let this decision derail our fight to defend and strengthen abortion rights.”
“In Connecticut, we remain committed to expanding access to reproductive health care, including allowing pharmacists to prescribe birth control and protecting both patients and providers who seek and offer that care,” the governor said.
Amanda Skinner, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, said in a statement Saturday that the Texas judge’s ruling could “severely undermine access to abortion in Connecticut.”
“While access remains protected for now, Planned Parenthood of Southern New England will continue to do everything possible to provide patients with timely abortion care, including the method that is best for their circumstances,” Skinner said.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy called the Texas judge’s ruling the “latest effort in the right’s coordinated campaign to strip away women’s rights.”
“We cannot allow right-wing judges to ignore the science, and put the health, safety, and autonomy of millions of women at risk,” Murphy said in a statement Saturday.
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz added in a statement Saturday that these “dangerous and all-out attacks” on the right to abortion access “must end.”
“One anti-choice judge’s opinion should not overturn decades of scientific research,” Bysiewicz said. “To those across the country in anti-choice states, know that Connecticut is a safe harbor, and we welcome you.”
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, said the “ruling goes against science.” She noted that half of abortions performed in the country are medical abortions and that nearly all medical abortions rely on access to mifepristone.
“Not only does this decision undermine the integrity of the FDA approval process and threatens access to all-FDA approved drugs, it strips American women of access to a safe and effective health care option,” DeLauro said. “We should be expanding access to health care, not limiting it. We cannot let this stand.”
Mifepristone is part of a two-drug regimen that has long been the standard for medication abortion in the U.S. Clinics and doctors that prescribe the combination have said they plan to switch to using only misoprostol. The single-drug approach is slightly less effective at ending pregnancies.
Last year, state lawmakers passed a “safe-harbor” law that meant to block attempts by other states to investigate people who obtain an abortion legally in Connecticut. The law allows people who are sued in so-called “bounty” lawsuits for obtaining an abortion to recover damages and legal fees in Connecticut court, and prevents officials from assisting a lawsuit or criminal prosecution against someone who obtained an abortion in Connecticut.
Connecticut lawmakers codified the right to abortion into law in 1990, decades before the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization last summer that undid federal protection for abortion.
Other Democratic Connecticut lawmakers also blasted the ruling Friday night.
“Once again, we see extreme conservative judges legislate from the bench,” state Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff. D-Norwalk. said in a tweet. “Taking women’s abortion rights again.” He also noted the timing of the decision, which came on a Friday before a holiday weekend.
“This decision is unbelievably lawless, and an egregious abuse of judicial power,” state Rep. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford, tweeted.
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