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Citing the coronavirus pandemic, a federal judge in Maryland ruled Monday to suspend a health and safety regulation requiring women to visit a hospital, clinic or medical office to obtain an abortion pill.
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "in-person requirements" for patients seeking a medication abortion imposes a "substantial obstacle" and is likely unconstitutional under COVID-19 restrictions.
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“Particularly in light of the limited timeframe during which a medication abortion or any abortion must occur, such infringement on the right to an abortion would constitute irreparable harm,” Chuang wrote in his 80-page decision.
The FDA approved mifepristone to be used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol, to terminate an early pregnancy or manage a miscarriage. Chuang's ruling will allow health care providers to arrange for the medication to be mailed or delivered to patients during the pandemic.
“By causing certain patients to decide between forgoing or substantially delaying abortion care, or risking exposure to COVID-19 for themselves, their children, and family members, the In-Person Requirements present a serious burden to many abortion patients,” the judge wrote.
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Chuang said the ruling would not eliminate any state's ability to continue to regulate abortion medication "above and beyond" the FDA's requirements.
“This is a tremendous victory for abortion patients and for science and common sense,” Julia Kaye, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said in response to the ruling.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, a pro-life organization, said the judge's decision may bring profit to the abortion industry but puts women's lives and future children at risk.
"Here we are again with a single judge deciding that it’s acceptable to endanger women’s health and lives as well as their present and future children as long as it wasn’t hard to make the sale," she said.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other groups sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the FDA in May to challenge the rule. ACLU lawyers represent the groups.
Skye Perryman, chief legal officer for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the FDA’s restrictions on mifepristone are not medically necessary and “do not advance the health and safety of patients.”
“Today’s ruling recognizes the hardship and undue burden that many women have faced obtaining essential health care during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Perryman said.
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The states of Indiana, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma had asked to intervene in the lawsuit. The 10 states argued the case could impact how they enforce their own state laws that relate to or reference the FDA’s regulation of mifepristone.
More than 4 million people in the U.S. have used mifepristone and misoprostol to end an early pregnancy; the two-drug combination accounted for 39 percent of all U.S. abortions in 2017, the lawsuit says.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion group, expressed disappointment in the judge’s ruling.
“The current FDA regulations are reasonable and necessary to protect women from serious and potentially life-threatening complications of abortion drugs, including intense pain, heavy bleeding, infection, and even death,” she said in a statement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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