(Corrected to reflect that the judge said the rule was illegal but did not strike it down)
By Daniel Wiessner
July 24 (Reuters) – A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that it was illegal for former President Joe Biden’s administration to require doctors and pharmacies to be specially certified to prescribe the abortion drug mifepristone.
U.S. District Judge Robert Ballou in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Thursday agreed with three abortion providers that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had failed to consider relevant data and weigh the impact of the 2023 rule on patients and providers before adopting it.
Ballou said federal law permitted him to order the FDA, which is currently conducting a broader review of the safety of mifepristone, to reconsider the rule, but not to strike it down.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New YorkEditing by Nick Zieminski)
