17 states and D.C. won't be affected by abortion pill rulings: report

The availability of an abortion pill that’s been at the center of frantic legal wrangling over the past week will not be affected by two legal rulings in the past week in 17 states and the District of Columbia, CNBC reports.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson of the state of Washington said it’s “crystal clear” that an order issued by U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice preserves access to mifepristone in 17 states and the District of Columbia.

“No judge in Texas or the 5th Circuit gets to override what a federal judge in Washington state has decided,” Ferguson told the cable business network.

Ferguson’s assessment of the ruling follows a chaotic sequence that began Friday when Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Texas-based U.S. District judge, ordered the suspension of mifepristone, unwinding an FDA approval of the drug more than 20 years ago on the grounds that its unsafe and that it’s 2000 approval was rushed.

Kacsmaryk gave the Justice Department a week to appeal the ruling, and on Wednesday the Fifth Circuit granted the agency a partial victory by putting the Texas judge’s ruling on hold, but the three-judge panel approved a part of the ruling that restricts distribution of the drug by mail.

Ferguson expressed confidence that none of the restrictions will affect the 17 states and the nation’s capital.

The 17 states that won’t be affected by the rulings are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Washington state.

“We have a ruling that’s crystal clear, and our full expectation is that the FDA will honor it,” Ferguson told CNBC.