HARRISBURG, Pa. — Eight months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, a federal Trump-appointed judge in Texas is now weighing a lawsuit that could further restrict abortion access nationwide.
“What we’re most concerned about is this decision could take mifepristone off the market completely and that would really impact access to abortion nationwide," said Melissa Reed, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Keystone.
Mifepristone is the first of a two-pill regimen that accounts for more than half of all abortions in the U.S.
The drug was FDA-approved in 2000.
According to Planned Parenthood, it has been prescribed to over five million women since then.
“This is a very significant and terrible precedent with them being able to take a drug, a very safe drug, off the market, that has been used widely for over 20 years," explained Reed.
Directors at the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation believe the drug hasn’t been properly vetted.
“People don’t realize the abortion pill is dangerous, there can be infections, there can be hemorrhaging," said Maria Gallagher, legislative director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation. "People think this is like taking a Tylenol and it’s not.”
Since the reversal of Roe, more than a dozen states have moved to outlaw abortion.
Pennsylvania is not one of them, but Planned Parenthood Keystone believes a nationwide ban on mifepristone would be detrimental to reproductive rights here in the Commonwealth and across the country.
“What it should really tell people is our opponents, those opposed to abortion, are not going to stop until they get a nationwide ban on abortion and remove access for every pregnant woman in the United States," said Reed.
Those on the other side of the issue, including Gallagher, are anticipating another victory in their fight against abortion.
“We have to recognize the fact that when the abortion pill is taken, an innocent life is taken as well," added Gallagher.
Reed told FOX43 if mifepristone were to be taken off the market, doctors would pivot their medicated abortion protocols to a Misoprostol-only procedure.
Misoprostol is the second drug in the medication regimen and Planned Parenthood says it is also safe and effective.
There is no word on when the federal judge in Texas could rule on the lawsuit.
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