If one were to simply peruse the headlines Thursday morning, it would be reasonable to conclude that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had thrown out last week's ruling by a district court judge in Texas that would effectively ban Mifepristone, one of the two drugs used to induce medication abortions. The original decision was made by Donald Trump appointee Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was widely criticized across the legal landscape for flouting very basic legal principles in order to advance his far-right ideology. Kacsmaryk's opinion was so poorly argued, in fact, that there was hope that even the very anti-abortion Fifth Circuit and Supreme Court would be forced to overturn it.
Initially, it seemed that was the case when, late Wednesday, the Fifth Circuit issued a stay to part of Kacsmaryk's ruling that would have blocked doctors from prescribing Mifepristone altogether. "Appeals court temporarily keeps abortion pill available but limits access," read the headline at the Washington Post. "Appeals court declines to block key abortion pill, bars access by mail," read the headline at NBC News. It was less than an ideal decision for abortion providers, the coverage suggested, but perhaps mostly a win insofar as the pill was still available.
