Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and 23 other Democratic attorneys general filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals in an attempt to stay the decision by a Texas judge to block access to a regularly used abortion pill, according to the La Crosse Tribune.
“The months following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade have made it clearer than ever how vital it is for women to have access to the full array of life-saving reproductive health care services — without interference from politicians,” Kaul said in a Wisconsin DOJ press release.
Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump-appointed U.S. district judge in Amarillo, Texas, put a pause on mifepristone, the first of two medications used in medical abortion April 7. The decision calls into question access to this medication, which has been approved by the F.D.A since 2000 for abortion use, according to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Over half of all abortions in the U.S. are by medication abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Mifepristone and its counterpart, misoprostol, can be taken within the first 70 days of pregnancy and are effective 95 to 99% of the time, according to Planned Parenthood.
Gynecologic oncologist at UW Health Dr. Ellen Hartenbach said in an email statement to The Badger Herald that mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone, which is required to maintain the pregnancy. Misoprostol then causes the uterus to contract, expelling pregnancy tissue.
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Kacsmaryk wrote in his ruling that the “lack of restrictions resulted in many deaths and many more severe or life-threatening adverse reactions,” according to the Texas Tribune. Between 2000 and June 2022, there have only been 28 reports of death in association with mifepristone, according to the FDA, which approved the medications to be used.
After Kacsmaryk’s ruling, a judge in Washington state issued a ruling that would keep the availability of the pill in many states. This deadlock means the case will likely rise to the Supreme Court, which currently has a conservative majority.
Kaul joined attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia, according to the La Crosse Tribune.
In 2021, the FDA made abortion pills available through the mail, removing the in-person requirement that had been in place since 2000.
But Wisconsin law does not permit abortion pills to be mailed from out of state. For Wisconsin residents to obtain an abortion pill, they must go out of state to seek treatment, according to Planned Parenthood.
According to the Isthmus, Wisconsin residents can also use the internet to order and receive pills for self-medication through Aid Access, a nonprofit based in the Netherlands that mails medication abortion to people who cannot access abortion care in their state.
“Following the Dobbs decision, in Wisconsin pregnancy can only be ended if the pregnant person’s life is at risk,” Hartenbach said. “Mifepristone and misoprostol are also used in combination to manage miscarriages, and when used together, the pills are more effective at managing first-trimester pregnancy loss.”
Kacsmaryk, who is the only judge in the Amarillo division of the Northern Division of Texas, is openly in support of the anti-abortion movement, according to the Washington Post. He said the FDA has uplifted many of the restrictions that were put in place over the last 22 years due to political pressures.
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In the past six months abortions have completely stopped in Wisconsin and subsequently, abortions provided in Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan have seen a 35%, 20% and 16% average monthly increase, respectively, according to UW CORE.
