Octopus Overlords

Alefroth wrote: ↑Sun Oct 02, 2022 4:10 pm It was a Walgreen's pharmacist that denied filling it. Can they just go to another pharmacy?

A federal judge may rule as soon as Friday on a lawsuit seeking to block the use of medication abortion nationwide, in the biggest abortion-related case since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

The lawsuit, filed in November by anti-abortion advocates against the US Food and Drug Administration, targets the agency’s two-decade-old approval of mifepristone, the first drug in the medication abortion process.

Medication abortion, which now makes up a majority of abortions obtained in the US, has become a particularly acute flashpoint in the fallout from the Supreme Court’s decision last year overturning Roe v. Wade.

US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, has extended the briefing deadline in the case until Friday. He could then issue a ruling at any time on a motion by the plaintiffs to temporarily block use of the medication.

Any decision that blocked access to medication abortion – even temporarily – will significantly disrupt abortion case nationwide, however.

The nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain confirmed Thursday that it will not dispense abortion pills in several states where they remain legal — acting out of an abundance of caution amid a shifting policy landscape, threats from state officials and pressure from anti-abortion activists.

Nearly two dozen Republican state attorneys general wrote to Walgreens in February, threatening legal action if the company began distributing the drugs, which have become the nation’s most popular method for ending a pregnancy.

The company told POLITICO that it has since responded to all the officials, assuring them that they will not dispense abortion pills either by mail or at their brick-and-mortar locations in those states.

The list includes several states where abortion in general, and the medications specifically, remain legal — including Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana. For example, Kansas’ law that patients only obtain the pills directly from a physician is blocked in court.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Wed Jan 11, 2023 2:35 pm They love babies...with fava beans and a nice chianti.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 5:54 pm

Jaymann wrote: ↑Wed Jan 11, 2023 2:35 pm They love babies...with fava beans and a nice chianti.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Mon Mar 06, 2023 5:45 pm Just to be clear: He is not banning the company, just saying they no longer deserve the state's government business.

Malchior: Are you saying their stock plummented?

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 4:30 pm Even better - TX introduced legislation yesterday to prevent credit cards from being used to "process a transaction" for "abortion inducing drug(s)".

If only they could do this for guns...

Gun control advocates are cheering a new change in the credit card industry that they say could help prevent gun violence.

This week, credit card companies Visa, Mastercard and American Express all said they would adopt a new code to categorize sales at gun shops, a move that advocates say will make it easier to flag suspicious gun sales.

The Texas judge who could undo government approval of a key abortion drug has scheduled the first hearing in the case for Wednesday but took unusual steps to keep it from being publicized, according to people familiar with the plans.

The hearing will be an opportunity for lawyers for the Justice Department, the company that makes the drug and the conservative group that is challenging it to argue their positions before U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. After they do, the judge could rule at any time.

Kacsmaryk scheduled the hearing during a call with attorneys Friday, said multiple people familiar with the call, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it. Kacsmaryk said he would delay putting the hearing on the public docket until late Tuesday to try to minimize disruptions and possible protests, and asked the lawyers on the call not to share information about it before then, the people said.

Public access to federal court proceedings is a key principle of the American judicial system, and Kacsmaryk’s apparent delay in placing the hearing on the docket is highly unusual. The judge and his staff did not respond to emails requesting comment on Saturday evening.

The lawsuit seeks to revoke Food and Drug Administration approval of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in a medication abortion. The case has garnered widespread attention and protests.

So in the likely event that Trump Judge Matty Kascmaryk bans mifepristone, here’s what we can expect next:

DOJ will seek an emergency stay from the Fifth Circuit as fast as it can review Matty’s opinion and draft a motion. They will likely lose. The Fifth Circuit is dominated by highly-partisan Republicans like Kyle Duncan.

Then it goes to SCOTUS. I think there’s a real chance that SCOTUS grants a stay — there is no legal basis whatsoever for banning mifepristone, which was approved 23 years ago. The statute of limitations to file this suit is six years.

However, the GOP-controlled SCOTUS’s practice, when the Biden administration asks for an emergency stay from a hack judge like Kascmaryk has been to deny the request. So there’s a real risk that Matty’s order could remain in effect for months or more.

If SCOTUS denies the temporary stay, the question of whether to permanently reverse Matty will still be on appeal. The Fifth Circuit gets the first shot. And it may intentionally delay its ruling to leave Matty’s decision in place for as possible. DOJ will likely lose again.

Most likely after the Fifth Circuit rules, SCOTUS will hear it again. I would be surprised if even this SCOTUS allows such a lawless order to remain in effect forever, but there’s no guarantee DOJ wins.

Depending on what Matty the K’s opinion says, FDA may also try to bypass him by reapproving mifepristone. Although I’m told that process could also take months.

So buckle up. Looks like shit is about to get super lawless.

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 4:01 pm When a judge knows better than 23+ years of FDA data.

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk heard more than four hours of debate over the Alliance Defending Freedom’s request to revoke or suspend the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone. Such a step would be an unprecedented challenge to the FDA and its authority in deciding which drugs to permit on the market.

Kacsmaryk said he would rule “as soon as possible,” without giving any clear indication of how he might decide and leaving open the question of whether access to the standard regimen for medication abortions might soon be curtailed throughout the country.

Mifepristone, when combined with a second pill, was approved in 2000 and is used to end pregnancies until their 10th week. It has been increasingly prescribed since last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.

...

Lawyers representing the FDA argued that pulling mifepristone would disrupt reproductive care for women across the U.S.

“An injunction here would interfere with the interests of every state in the country” said Julie Harris of the U.S. Justice Department, which represented the FDA.

...

If mifepristone is sidelined, clinics and doctors that prescribe the combination say they would switch to using only misoprostol, the other drug used in the two-drug combination. That single-drug approach has a slightly lower rate of effectiveness in ending pregnancies but is widely used in countries where mifepristone is illegal or unavailable.

In addition to challenging mifepristone’s approval process, the lawsuit takes aim at several later FDA decisions that loosened restrictions on the pill, including eliminating a requirement that women pick it up in person.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 7:41 pmThey're not going to stop until there's no legal options for abortions in the United States anywhere.

South Carolina Republicans are pushing legislation that would make a person who undergoes an abortion subject to the state's homicide laws, which include the death penalty.

The South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act would "ensure that an unborn child who is a victim of homicide is afforded equal protection under the homicide laws of the state." The bill would define a "person" as an "unborn child at every stage of development from fertilization until birth."

Under South Carolina law, people convicted of murder can face the death penalty or a minimum of 30 years in prison.

The bill provides some exceptions, including if the mother had an abortion "because she was compelled to do so by the threat of imminent death or great bodily injury." It also provides an exception if a licensed physician performs the abortion to prevent the death of a pregnant woman but "results in the accidental or unintentional injury or death of her unborn child when all reasonable alternatives to save the life of the unborn child were attempted or none were available."

Wyoming has become the first US state to outlaw the use or prescription of medication abortion pills after the governor, Mark Gordon, signed into law a bill that was passed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature earlier this month.

The crux of the two-page Wyoming bill is a provision making it illegal to “prescribe, dispense, distribute, sell or use any drug for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion”.

So-called “morning-after” pills, prescription contraceptive medication used after sex but before a pregnancy can be confirmed, are exempted from the ban.

The measure also includes an exemption for any treatment necessary to protect a woman “from an imminent peril that substantially endangers her life or health”, as well as any treatment of a “natural miscarriage according to currently accepted medical guidelines”.

Violation of the ban is to be treated as a criminal misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $9,000.

The measure stipulates that a woman “upon whom a chemical abortion is performed or attempted shall not be criminally prosecuted”.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed a new law that will allow a monument near the state Capitol marking the number of abortions performed in Arkansas before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.

Sanders' office said Friday night that the Republican governor signed the bill that will allow the creation of a privately funded "monument to the unborn" on the Capitol grounds. The bill, approved by lawmakers last week, requires the secretary of state to permit and arrange the placement of the monument.

It also requires the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission to oversee the selection of the artist and the design of the monument, with input from anti-abortion groups.

Tennessee lawmakers approved legislation in 2018 allowing a similar privately funded monument on its Capitol grounds. The monument has not yet been installed.

Smoove_B wrote:What the hell?

University of Idaho employees were warned Friday that they could be charged with a felony for talking about abortion, because of the state’s new abortion law.

They were also told *they could no longer provide birth control.*

Not just Plan B, but regular birth control.

An Idaho hospital has planned to stop delivering babies, with the medical center’s managers citing increasing criminalization of physicians and the inability to retain pediatricians as major reasons.

Bonner General Health, the only hospital in Sandpoint, Idaho, announced on Friday that it would no longer provide labor, delivery and a host of other obstetrical services.

The more than 9,000 residents of Sandpoint are now forced to drive 46 miles for the nearest labor and delivery care, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Defiant wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 10:55 am

An Idaho hospital has planned to stop delivering babies, with the medical center’s managers citing increasing criminalization of physicians and the inability to retain pediatricians as major reasons.

Bonner General Health, the only hospital in Sandpoint, Idaho, announced on Friday that it would no longer provide labor, delivery and a host of other obstetrical services.

The more than 9,000 residents of Sandpoint are now forced to drive 46 miles for the nearest labor and delivery care, the Idaho Statesman reported.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ortion-ban

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:14 pm What could possibly go wrong?

Isgrimnur wrote:And then there’s maternal mortality.

On Wednesday, a judge in the deep-red state of Wyoming temporarily blocked a state law that would make performing nearly any abortion in that state a felony. She relied on a 2012 amendment to the state constitution that was intended to spite then-President Barack Obama.
...
In many states, opponents of Obamacare effectively took the GOP’s talking points and turned them into state constitutional amendments protecting patients’ ability to obtain health care that the government might not want them to have. Wyoming’s amendment, for example, provides that “each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions.”

House Bill 242, which passed through the state House and is likely to move quickly through the Senate, seeks to limit minors’ ability to travel for abortion care without parental consent. The legislation would create a whole new crime — dubbed “abortion trafficking” — which is defined in the bill as an “adult who, with the intent to conceal an abortion from the parents or guardian of a pregnant, unemancipated minor, either procures an abortion … or obtains an abortion-inducing drug” for the minor. “Recruiting, harboring, or transporting the pregnant minor within this state commits the crime of abortion trafficking,” the legislation adds.

Abortion trafficking would be a felony, and those found guilty would face two to five years in prison. The legislation also includes a statute allowing the Idaho attorney general to supersede any local prosecutor’s decision, preemptively thwarting any prosecutor who vows not to enforce such an extreme law.

Since the bill would criminalize anyone transporting a pregnant minor within the state to get an abortion or to obtain medication abortion, it could apply to an aunt who drives a pregnant minor to the post office to pick up a package that includes abortion pills. Or it could target an older sibling who drives a pregnant minor to a friend’s house to self-manage an abortion at home. Either violation would carry a minimum sentence of two years in prison.

The legislation doesn’t actually say anything about crossing state lines, but Republican lawmakers are creative. Most pregnant people in Idaho are not traveling to obtain an abortion elsewhere in the state, since nearly all abortions are illegal in Idaho; they’re traveling to the border with the intent of crossing state lines, likely into Washington, Oregon or Montana, to get an abortion there.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed a bill repealing the state’s 1931 abortion ban.

Michigan had a law from 1931 on the books banning abortion without exceptions for rape or incest. It also allowed doctors and nurses who offer reproductive care to be prosecuted.

Breaking: Judge Kacsmaryk has stayed the FDA approval of mifepristone, the abortion pill that has been approved for over two decades. This is slated to take effect in seven days.

AND now the Washington judge just ruled too: barring FDA from changing status quo re: mifepristone. FDA is now under two contradictory orders.