A federal judge in Washington state on Thursday ruled that the Food and Drug Administration cannot roll back access to abortion pills in 17 states and the District of Columbia, regardless of the conflicting orders issued in other federal courts.
Why it matters: The availability of mifepristone, used for medication abortion, hinged on dueling court decisions — one that adds restrictions to the medication and the Washington state one, which says that suspending access to the drug alters the “status quo.”
The Justice Department said Thursday that it will appeal to the Supreme Court a lower court decision that let the FDA's approval of the abortion pill mifepristone remain in effect but imposed strict restrictions on the drug's use.
Why it matters: Less than a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the justices have yet another major abortion case at their doorstep.
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes got headlines earlier this week after a judge ruled that she must soon begin serving her prison sentence, but Holmes wasn't the only ex-CEO of a health tech unicorn to leave court unhappy.
Driving the news: Rishi Shah, who founded Outcome Health and led it to a $5.5 billion valuation, on Tuesday was found guilty of mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.
Republican frustrations with the FDA have been building for a long time, potentially raising the stakes in the legal battle over its approval of a widely used abortion pill.
Driving the news: A group of 69 Senate and House Republicans on Tuesday asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals not to stay a Texas judge's decision halting the FDA's approval of the widely used abortion pill mifepristone, charging that "[t]he FDA's unlawful approval and deregulation of chemical abortion drugs subverts Congress' public policy considerations and safeguards for patient safety."
A federal appeals court late Wednesday partially blocked a Texas judge's decision halting the FDA's approval of the widely used abortion pill mifepristone.
The big picture: The 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel on the conservative-leaning court means that, for now, mifepristone is still available in the U.S., but with several strict limitations.
A federal judge in Texas who struck down an Obamacare provision that requires employers to cover certain preventive services has repeatedly sought to undermine the landmark law.
The big picture: U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor's ruling last month — which the Justice Department said Wednesday it will appeal — has far-reaching implications for millions of Americans' health plans.
The Biden administration on Wednesday will propose updating a landmark federal privacy law to address instances in which law enforcement targets patients seeking abortion pills and other reproductive care.
Driving the news: A proposed administrative change to HIPAA's privacy rules would block health plans and providers from disclosing protected health information regarding a patient's reproductive care.
Why it matters: The ruling — which calls into question the drug's safety in a way at odds with scientific consensus — could further fuel skepticism about public health agencies that was fomented by anti-vaccine activists and amplified during the pandemic by misinformation about COVID vaccines.
Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis surged in the U.S. in the second year of the pandemic, reaching more than 2.5 million cases in 2021, the CDC said on Tuesday.
Why it matters: STI's have been on the rise since 2017 — and the number of syphilis cases recorded in 2021 was the highest in 70 years.
