The Supreme Court announced on Wednesday that it would decide on the availability of a commonly used abortion pill, the first major case involving abortion on its docket since it overturned the constitutional right to the procedure more than a year ago.
As family doctor running for Congress, and I've been working on the frontlines of women's healthcare for four decades.
[Written in April 2023 when a
Mifepristone ban first made headlines.]
Activist judges are hijacking our legal system to advance political agendas and eroding women's fundamental right to access safe, legal medicine.
The ruling by a federal judge in Texas invalidating the Food and Drug Administration's approval 23 years ago of the abortion pill mifepristone has the potential to be one of the most consequential abortion cases since the overturning of Roe v Wade.
Two federal judges reached contradictory conclusions. With two opposing rulings, the case will go quickly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
One ordered the FDA to continue the status quo and retain safe access to abortion medication. At the same time, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk stated the FDA violated federal law over the last 23 years. He moved to effectively ban mifepristone's availability nationwide, including invoking the "anti-vice" law created in 1873.
Mifepristone has been used for over 20 years by over five million people. Medical professionals have well-established the medication's safety, and the FDA has followed its mission, federal rules, and regulations.
Mifepristone is safer than Tylenol, Viagra, and Penicillin.
Commonly prescribed drugs like penicillin and Viagra have higher death rates than abortion medication.
Anti-abortion supporters handpicked the case. The judge is the sole jurist in the Amarillo division of the Northern District of Texas. A hearing here benefits activists because they can target a juror tied to the religious right with anti-abortion views. He issued his opinion on Good Friday.
Kacsmaryk has argued against same-sex marriage, civil rights protections for gay and transgender individuals, the contraceptive mandate, and Roe v. Wade.
This ruling against the FDA isn't based on science or safety; It's right-wing activism.
This type of judicial activism is not the way forward. Our justice system is not a platform for arbitrators to advocate and promote social causes; Judges must only interpret and apply the law.
Americans are losing trust and respect in our legal system. The jurist from Texas should have recused himself from hearing this case. We need judicial reform.
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After receiving three advanced degrees (Medical Doctor, Master of Social Work, and Master in Public Health), Dr. Lorinser worked as a social worker in a Veterans Affairs Hospital and as a physician with the Indian Health Service, serving the Navajo Nation. In 1989, he found his home in Michigan's First District, where he practiced family medicine for three decades.
Dr. Lorinser currently serves as the Marquette County Health Department Medical Director in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.