Demonstrators gather in Washington Square Park over abortion pill ruling
WASHINGTON PARK - On Saturday people gathered at Washington Square Park to protest what they say is a violation of women's fundamental right to abortion.
Protests took place across the country after news broke Friday that a federal judge in Texas who was appointed by former president Donald Trump ruled to suspend the FDA's approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, which was approved over 20 years ago.
"We're talking about an unprecedented challenge of the FDA's approval process of medications. Not just of mifepristone, but it threatens the FDA's authority over medication approval in general. It's a crisis of democracy, and it's a crisis of healthcare," said Alexis McGill Johnson, President & CEO of Planned Parenthood.
RELATED: Judge halts FDA approval of abortion pill mifepristone
Hours after the Texas judge ordered a hold on the pill, a judge in DC, an appointee of former president Obama ordered the opposite and directed U.S. authorities not to make any changes that would restrict access to the drug, at least not in 17 states.
The legal battle comes nearly a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Here in New York City, Manhattan borough president, Mark Levine says last January the city became the first city in the nation to offer abortion medication at its public health clinics.
In a tweet Saturday Levine says the judge’s ruling is a set back to their efforts "Despite the ruling by a rogue, Trump appointed judge in Texas, abortion will remain safe & legal in NYC. If the judge’s Mifepristone ban goes into effect as soon as next Friday, NYC public hospitals & health dept clinics will shift to a Misoprostol only treatment regimen."
Access to the most commonly used method of abortion in the U.S. plunged into uncertainty Friday following conflicting court rulings over the legality of the abortion medication mifepristone that has been widely available for more than 20 years.
For now, the drug that the Food and Drug Administration approved in 2000 remains at least immediately available in wake of the separate rulings that were issued just minutes apart by federal judges in Texas and Washington.
The case could end up in the hands of the Supreme Court.