What’s next for the abortion pill

April 11, 2023

Will the anti-abortion cruelty backfire? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

April 11, 2023

Dear Meteor readers,

As you’ve probably heard by now, a Texas judge ruled late on Friday that the FDA approval of the abortion pill mifepristone should be revoked, potentially threatening access everywhere to the medication (which has been used, safely, for 23 years).

As a born-and-raised Houstonian, I’m used to having to deal with Texas’ bullshit. But it’s absolutely devastating to see one extremist’s decision ripple nationwide.

In today’s newsletter, we parse the aftermath of Kacsmaryk’s unprecedented ruling. On the happy side, though: Hannah Gadsby’s got a new special on its way! Plus, female superheroes! (Can they go to Texas?)

Holding you all as tight as I can,

Bailey Wayne Hundl

WHAT’S GOING ON

THREE MIFEPRISTONE PILLS IN DECEMBER 2000, THE YEAR THE PILL WAS APPROVED SAFE FOR USE BY THE FDA (PHOTO BY BILL GRENBLATT/LIAISON VIA GETTY IMAGES)

What the abortion pill mess means: In a highly anticipated court case, Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled Friday that the FDA should revoke their approval of mifepristone, a pill used in about half of all abortions nationwide. Despite being one of the safest and most studied medications available, Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee with long-held anti-abortion views and a penchant for dressing his toddler in anti-abortion baby duds, wrote in his 67-page opinion that the FDA had “acquiesced on its legitimate safety concerns” in the face of “significant political pressure” to “increased ‘access’ to chemical abortion.”

First off: “chemical abortion” is a label meant to portray these safe medications as unhealthy, which they aren’t.

Second: This is going to backfire on extremists, believes Cecile Richards, former CEO of Planned Parenthood. “Republican leadership is going to be absolutely on the defense now for the next 18 months,” she told The 19th News Friday; recent polls show widespread public support for legal abortion. Of the 38 current Republican senators who voted to confirm Kacsmaryk, only one, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, has publicly celebrated the decision.

Response to Kacsmaryk has been swift: In a separate ruling issued late Friday night, a Washington judge ordered the government to keep mifepristone available in 17 states and D.C., noting that the drug is safe and effective. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice asked the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday to block the Texas decision. And in a genius move, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy revealed Monday that she had already stockpiled almost two years’ worth of mifepristone in advance of Kacsmaryk’s decision. (Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s supply sits at around three years.)

Thankfully, mifepristone is not the only abortion pill available; the World Health Organization has approved of misoprostol-only abortions for years. However, taking misoprostol on its own leads to more side effects: cramps, nausea/vomiting, fevers, and even incomplete abortions—all side effects mifepristone helps alleviate. (It also takes longer to work, so patients traveling out of state to take them may have to be gone longer.) In other words: If this ruling holds, abortions will get even less safe than they were…all thanks to a court case ostensibly concerned with mifepristone’s safety.

As Amanda Marcotte wrote for Salon, this ruling “serves no other purpose but to punish patients who seek abortion by making the process more miserable than it needs to be.” The inhumanity isn’t a side effect; it’s the goal.

So what’s next? In all likelihood, this case will go to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and, if it’s upheld there, make its way to the Supreme Court. And in the meantime, organizers will keep doing what they’ve been doing all day every day for years, and especially since last June: They’ll help make abortion as accessible as possible. You can help by donating to abortion funds.

You can stay tuned, and stay angry.

FLOWERS LAID ON THE STEPS OF THE OLD NATIONAL BANK, WHERE A SHOOTING TOOK PLACE MONDAY (PHOTO BY MICHAEL SWENSEN/LIAISON VIA GETTY IMAGES)

AND:

A gunman in Louisville, Kentucky killed five people and injured eight more at an Old National Bank on Monday. The shooter’s weapon, an assault AR-style firearm, was purchased legally from a local dealership only a week before. As Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, said in response, “When we allow guns everywhere, for anyone with no questions asked, nowhere is safe.”

North Carolina state Rep. Tricia Cotham, who was elected only five months ago running on a progressive platform, has formally switched to the Republican party, giving Republicans the numbers to override vetoes from the state’s Democratic governor. So what did NC Republicans do with this newfound power? Why, they immediately filed five new anti-trans bills, of course! #DemocracyAtWork

Remember last week’s news of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ decades-long history of failing to disclose the lavish gifts he accepted from major Republican donor Harlan Crow? Well, the story got even better (by which we mean worse) last weekend: Turns out Harlan Crow collects Nazi memorabilia—including a copy of “Mein Führer” signed by Hitler himself. (But honestly, if you had to close your eyes and picture who Clarence Thomas hangs out with on the weekends…that kind of tracks.)

Just one day after U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel Perry was convicted for his 2020 murder of a Black Lives Matter protester, Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott announced that he’s working “as swiftly as Texas law allows” to pardon him. I know I shouldn’t be shocked (see: raised in Texas). And after all, this is the same party that turned a murderer into a revered public speaker. But disdain for the value of human life is always shocking, and it should be.

In brighter news: Brown University has named its Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice after its former president Ruth Simmons, the first Black president of an Ivy League school. If you don’t know this legend’s story (which includes commissioning a study of Brown’s relationship to slavery years before other universities followed suit), you can learn more here.

Check out this deeply informative article in Women’s Health from “Black-ish” star Marsai Martin detailing the removal of her grapefruit-sized ovarian cyst, where she shares everything she wishes she had known ahead of time. She hopes by sharing her story, she can inspire other women “to talk about their pain, and to keep speaking out until they’re taken seriously.”

A superhero film starring a trio of women is as exciting as it is overdue. So thanks, Marvel! Also, I’m just gonna say it: They need to make Captain Marvel gay. Come on, Marvel, it’s time!