Congresswoman Susan Del Bene and Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson go over the potential fallout from a ruling banning one of two abortion drugs
A new legal threat to Abortion Rights led to a roundtable strategy meeting on Tuesday in Kirkland between top elected officials and community leaders.
“The assault on reproductive rights has been appalling” Congresswoman Susan Del Bene looked visibly uneasy “Any day now we’re going to have a Trump appointed judge in Texas issue a decision in a case that may impact access to one of the two drugs that are used safely in medication abortion.”
Washington has long protected abortion rights, “Mifepristone is used in over half of the abortions in Washington and across the country” and Attorney General Bob Ferguson already has a court date in federal court next week in Spokane “We want to ensure there’s still access to mifepristone here in Washington state, so we’d be in front of our judge immediately to seek that relief and we think there’s a good chance we’d get it.”
The legal challenge was filed by an anti-abortion group; but critics argue Amarillo, Texas was chosen because of U-S District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s strict views on abortion.
The roundtable was held at the progressive Kol Ami Center for Jewish Life.
“I want to thank all the people here whose hard work and advocacy allows me to do my job (without) being incarcerated” women’s health specialist Dr Mollie Nisen made a strong case for the abortion drug “Both mifepristone and misoprostol are safe and effective ways to perform abortion care (and) I know in most cases abortion is less dangerous than a delivery at term.”
Congresswoman Del Bene is doubling down sponsoring tougher federal legislation in congress.
A ruling from Judge Kacsmaryk could come as early as this week.
