Federal district courts in Texas and Washington issued conflicting rulings April 7 regarding access to the abortion pill mifepristone, setting up a likely Supreme Court hearing to sort out the national ramifications.

In the Texas ruling, Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk castigated the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for stonewalling judicial review of the abortion pill’s approval for two decades. “Had FDA responded to Plaintiffs’ petitions within the 360 total days allotted,” he said, “this case would have been in federal court decades earlier. Instead, FDA postponed and procrastinated for nearly 6,000 days.”

The judge also took the FDA to task for making changes to the abortion pill regimen that removed safety restrictions and thus endangered pregnant women.

“FDA acquiesced on its legitimate safety concerns—in violation of its statutory duty,” the judge said, adding, “Whether FDA abandoned its proposed restrictions because of political pressure or not, one thing is clear: the lack of restrictions resulted in many deaths and many more severe or life-threatening adverse reactions.”

Further, Kacsmaryk said, the mailing of chemical abortion drugs is a clear violation of the Comstock Act, a federal law that specifically renders illegal the mailing of “[e]very article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion … and [e]very article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing which is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion.”

Kacsmaryk’s ruling placed a hold on mifepristone, although it paused the ruling for seven days to allow for appeals. The U.S. Department of Justice quickly appealed, sending the case to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is expected to act quickly on the case.

“By illegally approving dangerous chemical abortion drugs, the FDA put women and girls in harm’s way, and it’s high time the agency is held accountable for its reckless actions,” said Erik Baptist, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom. Baptist argued the case before the court on March 15. “This is a significant victory for the doctors and medical associations we represent and, more importantly, the health and safety of women and girls.”

Shortly after the Texas ruling, Judge Thomas O. Rice, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, ordered the FDA not to make any changes that would restrict access to the abortion pill in any of 17 states that had sued to expand access to the abortion pill.

The states affected by Rice’s ruling are: Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Delaware, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Pennsylvania, in addition to Washington, D.C.

Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?

For those claiming to “champion women’s rights,” the abortion industry has a long history of misrepresenting the scientific reality of life in the womb and the health risks to the mother associated with abortion.

With regard to the abortion pill, the industry cited “hundreds of studies” to the Texas District Court, alleging that mifepristone is “safe.” However, as LiveAction noted, “‘Big Abortion’ conveniently leaves out the extraordinary bias of those studies.”

“The fact is that, not only was the FDA extremely secretive in their review of studies around the abortion pill but they are alleged to have hidden the names of the researchers who reviewed them for the FDA,” Live Action warned.

Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Erik Baptist highlighted that “an alarming number of women end up in the emergency rooms across the country after taking chemical abortion drugs. One study found that more than 35 percent of women who had a chemical abortion visited the ER within 30 days after taking these drugs.”

“Federal agencies that act lawlessly must be held accountable,” Baptist said in a statement issued Wednesday. The FDA illegally approved dangerous chemical abortion drugs and has evaded its legal responsibility to answer the American people’s questions for two decades. The FDA put politics ahead of the health of women and girls when it failed to study how dangerous this drug regimen is and when it removed every meaningful safeguard that it previously implemented. The FDA should have to answer for the damage it has done to the rule of law and the harm it has caused to countless women and girls.”

Dr. Donna Harrison, chair of the board for Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, explained that their lawsuit’s intent is to “hold the FDA accountable after over two decades of dangerous medical negligence.”

Jesus stated in Matthew 24:12 that in the time prior to His return lawlessness/iniquity would “abound” in the world. The word “iniquity” in this verse comes from the Greek word “anomia,” which carries an intriguing meaning in light of the lawlessness we are witnessing today. “Anomia” means to be without law. More specifically, to be in a state in which laws exist but are flagrantly violated.

Additionally, the apostle Paul warned that in the last days “men of corrupt minds” would seek to restrain and hinder the truth (2 Timothy 3:8-9).

It is critical to note that “successful” abortions are always deadly, ending the life of a child in the womb who was fearfully and wonderfully made by God (Psalm 139:14-16). The corruption which permeates this industry has led to the deaths of numerous children—approximately 12.3 Million internationally this year alone, according to Worldometers.

RECOMMENDED: Ken Ham: Abortion—Is The Bible Ambiguous?

Franklin Graham, commenting on the FDA’s decision to make the abortion pill available through the postal system, referred to the actions as “Murder by mail.”

“Abortion supporters try to make it sound more acceptable and less barbaric by saying that it ‘terminates a pregnancy,'” Graham described. “But medication abortions, as they are called, are just another way to deliberately end the life of an unborn child—and that should be called what it is—murder.”

“Pray that the minds and hearts of people across our nation would be awakened to the great sin and heartbreak of abortion,” he implored. “And pray for our Supreme Court to make changes that will protect and value the most vulnerable among us.”