man bans abortion pills instead of going to therapy

Couldn’t Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk join a cross fit gym instead?

Last friday, it happened. Some guy who lives in Texas tried to ban abortion pills instead of going to therapy.

Rather than dealing with his irrational fear of women by journaling or joining a cross-fit gym, U.S District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a ruling single-handedly halting the FDA’s own approval of Mifepristone, one of the two pills most commonly used to get an abortion. He falsely claimed that it posed health risk to women. Imagine being so petrified of ladies deciding stuff, that you cosplay as a doctor and butt into a 23-year old FDA ruling about one of the world’s safest medicines. What this bonehead did, is akin to a female judge banning viagra because a few men had complications from taking the drug, except it’s worse because abortion pills are actually FOURTEEN TIMES safer than viagra.

Here’s the good news: Given that another judge (who is not nuts) ruled the opposite way in Washington state, and that the Biden administration has already appealed the Texas court decision, this will probably end up going to the Supreme Court, where advocates are confident the court wouldn’t rule in favor of the aforementioned bonehead, and ban one of the most trusted and safest medications in the world. The Supreme Court has made some embarrassing decisions lately, but they probably won’t want to look this atrocious on the world stage.

Another reason to feel hopeful is that just last year, SCOTUS already ruled that a federal judge can’t overrule the FDA, so this decision has no legs. And even if it somehow did, it’s not illegal to take something that’s not FDA-approved! Flaming hot cheetos are not FDA-approved and I eat them all the time! And the final nail in their coffin is that the FDA is not bound to respect the ruling and can use their discretionary judgment to keep mifepristone on the market. If you want to join the fight and put some pressure on the federal agency, here is the petition you can sign.

And even if pigs fly and mifepristone somehow is wiped out, many counties only use one pill to perform an abortion, the other pill called Misoprostol, and it’s pretty effective!

Still, this judge’s decision is unhinged and is meant to scare us, which is why it’s more crucial than ever that we double-down on being fearless.

When anti-choice zealots attack us, it’s our cue to reiterate a core truth that drives them up the wall: that you simply cannot stop abortion. Trying to ban abortion is like trying to ban fun. You can certainly try, and make it harder for others to spread joy, but ultimately you’re just ruining your own life by trying to control something that’s out of your hands.

Judges and laws only have the power that we give them. Their cruel bills and draconian rulings aren’t so scary when you realize anti-choice lawmakers have little ability to make their demented dreams come true. As Dahlia Lithwick put it succinctly the day the ruling came out: “Now let him enforce it.” States like Washington have already started stockpiling abortion pills and as Rebecca Traister put it, anti-abortion efforts are costing Republicans some serious elections. Republican radicals can pass all the laws they want but if people don’t respect them, do they really exist?

Let’s use a comparaison just for kicks. If in the year 2023, some lady banned viagra because she doesn’t like men making decisions about their bodies, how enforceable would her wacky decision really be? Don’t you think men would find a way to still get it? Don’t you think that a ruling that goofy would be respected by men? Start seeing women and abortion rights in the same way. We are just as powerful and we have rebelled against anti-choice laws before, and we will do it again. The biggest mistake anti-choicers ever made was underestimating us. You can’t control a substance that’s already widely available. And since people of color will always be more vulnerable to being criminally charged and incarcerated by anti-choice laws, it means it’s even more important to center our safe distribution of abortion pills around marginalized communities.

And besides, what I wrote in our community the day that Roe was overturned, is still true today despite this ding dong’s decision: You can still get abortion pills in all 50 states. Repeat after me: You can still get abortion pills in all 50 states! Yes, even in the red ones! Even in Texas where this Trump-appointed federal judge lives.

mayday.health

A post shared by mayday.health (@mayday.health)

Mayday health, a non-profit that i’m honored to be part of, took out this page in the Houston Chronicle and gives you step-by-step instructions on how to set up an address in a blue state so that anyone can access safe abortion.

And every time you help us spread that message, it makes these anti-choice guys shake in their boots because it makes all their little laws completely obsolete. Nothing makes an anti-choice guy feel more impotent than a bunch of women who don’t respect them. And the proof is in the pudding because they even mentioned us in the ruling! Join the movement, it’s scaring them.

drjenniferlincoln

A post shared by Jennifer Lincoln, MD, IBCLC (@drjenniferlincoln)

Abortion pills are in their villain era and there’s nothing they can do about it.

Anti-choicers think that they’re winning when they pass absurd laws but all they’re doing is making us stronger. Organizations like Mayday Health, Hey Jane, Shout Your Abortion and Plan C have already been advising us on how to get abortion pills in advance and keep them in our medicine cabinet the same way we would keep a bottle of advil or tylenol. You can’t ban abortion pills if women already have them :)

So don’t give up hope just because some lunatic who happens to be a federal judge embarrassed himself this week. When they try and keep us down, they’re only helping us perfect the art of being unstoppable.