Medication abortion hearing scheduled for Wednesday in Amarillo

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Tomorrow a federal judge in Amarillo will be hearing an abortion case with nationwide implications.

The case is to undo approval of an abortion drug, mifepristone which is one of two drugs used. Anti-abortion advocates filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration alleging it improperly approved the drug 23 years ago.

The lawsuit seeks several actions, including an injunction ordering the FDA to drop its approval of the drug.

This would essentially block the drug’s use nationwide, at least temporarily while the federal judge hears the case.

Pro-choice advocates demonstrated last month in front of the courthouse in what they called a “Sounding the Alarm” movement.

“You don’t know how bad it was before abortion was legal. I had friends that lost their aunts, their mothers, their sisters and their girlfriends to unsafe illegal abortions and that’s what we’re being pushed to,” said Claudia Stravato, instructor of political science for West Texas A&M University.

A former federal prosecutor states her concerns of one judge issuing a nationwide injunction.

“There are some potential fixes here. Congress could step in, they could order that any seeking of a nationwide injunction would have to go, for example, to a three judge panel instead of just a single judge. But this is a lot of power in the hands of one person,” said Jennifer Rodgers, former federal prosecutor.

Both sides will have two-hours to present their argument on Wednesday, March 15, according to court filings.

The judge’s first ruling on the case will only focus on the preliminary injunction request.

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