Garland made the statement following a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that limited the distribution and access to the drug while the lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) winds its way through the courts. The Justice Department filed the appeal this week following last week’s decision by a lower court judge in Texas that suspended FDA’s approval of the pill but issued a seven-day stay on the order to give time for an appeal. The appeals court late Wednesday ruled the FDA’s initial approval of mifepristone in 2000 could remain in effect but limits its use for the first seven weeks of pregnancy and prevents it from being dispensed by mail. The decision will be in place until the case can have a full hearing.
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“The Justice Department strongly disagrees with the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA to deny in part our request for a stay pending appeal,” Garland said. “We will be seeking emergency relief from the Supreme Court to defend the FDA’s scientific judgment and protect Americans’ access to safe and effective reproductive care.”
President Biden said if the lower court’s ruling is to stand, then there will be “virtually no prescription, approved by the FDA, that would be safe from these kinds of political, ideological attacks.”
HHS takes step to tighten privacy rules around abortion
Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Wednesday proposed a rule to strengthen patient-provider confidentiality around reproductive health care. If finalized, it would extend additional privacy protections for providers, insurers, patients, and others to safeguard personal health information when the information would be disclosed or used to identify, investigate, sue, or prosecute someone for seeking, obtaining, providing, or facilitating lawful reproductive health care. The proposal defines reproductive health care to include, but not be limited to, prenatal care, abortion, miscarriage management, infertility treatment, contraception use, and treatment for reproductive-related conditions such as ovarian cancer.
“Trust is critical in the patient-doctor relationship and medical mistrust can damage and chill patients’ relationship with their providers, imperiling patient health,” said Office for Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Rainer in the announcement. "Today’s proposed rule is about safeguarding this trust in the patient-provider relationship, and ensuring that when you go to the doctor, your private medical records will not be disclosed and used against you for seeking lawful care. This is a real problem we are hearing and seeing, and we developed today’s proposed rule to help address this gap and provide clarity to our health care providers and patients.”
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HHS said that protecting patient information and privacy has taken on critical importance since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. “When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, nearly half a century of precedent changed overnight,” said Secretary Xavier Becerra in the proposed rule announcement. “The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to protecting women’s lawful access to reproductive health care, including abortion care. President Biden signed not one but two executive orders calling on HHS to take action to meet this moment and we have wasted no time in doing so. Today’s action is yet another important step HHS is taking to protect patients accessing critical care.”