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A combative three-judge panel at one of the most conservative courts in the country grilled attorneys for the federal government and a drug manufacturer as anti-abortion activists continue a legal battle to overturn the government’s approval of a widely used abortion drug. On 17 May, the case against mifepristone returned to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, where attorneys for the US Department of Justice and drug manufacturer Danco Laboratories faced skeptical Republican-appointed judges hearing oral arguments in a case that could upend abortion care for millions of Americans. Within seconds of her opening argument, Justice Department attorney Sarah Harrington was interrupted by Judge James Ho, a Donald Trump appointee, who challenged her description of the legal challenge against the drug’s approval by the US Food and Drug Administration. “I don’t think there’s ever been any court that has vacated an FDA determination that a drug is safe to be on the market,” she replied. “FDA can make that determination based on exercising its own scientific expertise, but it’s not a court’s role to come in and second-guess that expertise.” “Why not focus on the facts,” Judge Ho said, “rather than this ‘FDA can do no wrong’ theme.” The judges repeatedly interrupted Ms Harrington and appeared sympathetic to the plaintiffs: an anti-abortion group represented by influential right-wing legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, whose senior counsel Erin Morrow Halley – the wife of Republican senator Josh Hawley – baselessly asserted that medication abortion is “particularly dangerous”. Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, who was appointed by George W Bush, also took a moment to chastise lawyers for their “unusual remarks” in filings objecting to the widely derided lower-court decision from a former right-wing activist attorney who was appointed to the federal bench by Mr Trump. Judge Elrod suggested their criticisms amounted to personal attacks and suggested that the attorney retract the statements and apologise. “Those statements reflect our view that the district court was very outside the bounds,” said Jessica Ellsworth, an attorney for Danco. “I don’t think those remarks, any of them, were intended as any personal attack.” The judges are not expected to rule immediately. But a decision from the panel judges – each with a history of support for abortion restrictions – is likely to return the case to the US Supreme Court, which has paused any action on mifepristone until the legal challenge plays out. In her arguments, Ms Hawley conflated the risk of serious complications from mifepristone – which is less than 1 per cent – with the risk that a medication abortion failed and would then require medical attention. Her arguments suggested that doctors are enduring a moral harm by providing abortion care, without evidence that doctors have been forced to do so, while also claiming that the FDA illegally approved the drug when it was approved more than 20 years ago. The judges repeatedly questioned the FDA’s approval process for mifepristone, which plaintiffs argued was done too hastily through an expedited process that is typically reserved for treating serious or life-threatening illnesses. But the FDA did not do that with mifepristone; it took years of study before the FDA’s approval. The part of that process that the agency invoked for mifepristone’s approval allowed the FDA to add safety restrictions, such as a requirement that physicians be able to diagnose ectopic pregnancies. But judges appeared to argue that because pregnancy is not an illness, mifepristone should not have been approved through that process at all, repeating plaintiffs’ false claim that the FDA called pregnancy a “life-threatening illness.” “When we celebrated Mothers’ Day, were we celebrating illness?” Judge Ho said at one point. “The arguments today demonstrated in detail that the case has no legal or scientific merit and should have been laughed out of court from the very start,” Jennifer Dalven, director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the deck is stacked as the judges hearing this case are well known for their extraordinary hostility to abortion,” she added. “The whole point of the case is to prevent anyone in America, no matter where they live, from using a medication that has been safely used in this country for decades and is used in most abortions today.” Major medical groups and research from hundreds of studies over the last two decades have confirmed the overwhelming safety and efficacy of the drug, one of two drugs used in a two-drug protocol for a medication abortion, the most common form of abortion care in the US. Studies show it is as safe to use as common over-the-counter pain relievers like ibuprofen and acetaminophen, and the protocol for medication abortion is used in more than 60 other countries. The drug was first approved by the FDA in 2000 and is approved for use up to 10 weeks of pregnancy. A vast majority of abortions occur within the first nine weeks of pregnancy. From 2019 through 2020, nearly 93 per cent of all abortions were performed before the 13th week, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mifepristone is also used to treat miscarriages. Roughly 10 per cent of clinically recognised pregnancies end in miscarriages, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association also joined a brief in the challenge opposing arguments from anti-abortion groups. Last year, Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit in US District Court in Amarillo, Texas on behalf of a group of anti-abortion activists incorporated as the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which was organised that same month with an address in Amarillo. The Alliance Defending Freedom also led the challenge at the Supreme Court that ultimately struck down Roe v Wade. In April, US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk – a former right-wing activist lawyer who was appointed to the federal judiciary by then-President Trump – issued a ruling to suspend the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, which was immediately challenged by abortion rights advocates, providers, major medical groups, drug manufacturers and the Biden administration. An appeal landed at the Fifth Circuit court, which has jurisdiction over the Amarillo court. A three-judge panel blocked a part of the judge’s ruling, and a subsequent ruling at the Supreme Court paused the lower-court ruling as the legal challenge continues. Read More North Carolina Republicans approve 12-week abortion ban as sweeping restrictions spread across US South Nebraska Republicans approve combined gender-affirming care ban and anti-abortion bill after epic filibuster Anti-abortion laws harm patients facing dangerous and life-threatening complications, report finds A Texas man sued his ex-wife’s friends for allegedly helping her with an abortion. Now they’re suing him Louisiana Republicans refuse rape and incest exceptions to state’s sweeping anti-abortion law What is mifepristone? The widely used pill in the abortion rights battle at the Supreme Court

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As Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear prepares for what could be the most hotly contested election of the year, the first-term Democrat insisted on Wednesday that he would not cede so-called family values issues to his Republican opponent. In his first sit-down interview since Tuesday's primary, Beshear also tried to contrast his steady leadership with the just-concluded bitter GOP campaign in which state Attorney General Daniel Cameron prevailed in a 12-candidate field. The governor told The Associated Press that he intends to make the general election race about helping families and not trying to “rile people up,” and he accused Cameron of doing just that in his victory speech. “I think sadly from the other side, what we saw last night and what we’ll see is name-calling, stoking division, trying to incite fear or anger or maybe even hatred. And that’s not how we’re supposed to run these elections,” Beshear said. Cameron, buoyed by an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, finished 26 percentage points ahead of his nearest rival, state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles. Trump’s former U.N. ambassador, Kelly Craft, was a disappointing third after a campaign that mostly centered around her and Cameron. The much scrutinized off-year matchup between Beshear and Cameron in November could provide insight about voter sentiment heading into the 2024 elections that will determine control of the White House and Congress. The race will test the strength of a popular Democratic governor in a Republican-dominated state who hopes the reputation he forged as the state’s consoler in chief during a tumultuous four years will be enough to propel him to a second term. Cameron, one of the most prominent Black Republicans in the country, came out swinging in a primary night speech. “The new religion of the left casts doubt on the greatness of America,” Cameron said. “They embrace a picture of this country and this commonwealth that is rooted in division, that is hostile to faith and that is committed to the erosion of our education system.” The AP reached out to Cameron for an interview, but his campaign did not immediately make him available. Beshear said he sees similarities between this year’s race and his run in 2019, when he defeated GOP Gov. Matt Bevin. "If you look at this last primary, I think that you are seeing the same nastiness, the same turning people against each other,” Beshear said. Much like that contest, Beshear said he has no plans to campaign with national Democrats, including President Joe Biden. Beshear relies on his family’s strong political brand in Kentucky, where his father, Steve Beshear, is a former two-term governor. “This is about us, not Washington, D.C. Everything you’re going to hear me talk about in this election is about our families and how we move them ahead — not right, not left, but forward," Beshear said. Biden joined Beshear to console the victims of tornadoes and flooding that hit Kentucky during the governor's first term. Asked if he was bracing for opposition ads showing pictures of him and Biden together, Beshear said, “It would be pretty callous, I think, for somebody to use photos of showing up at the toughest of times against somebody.” In his speech Tuesday night, Cameron tried to tie Beshear to Biden's immigration policies, lambasted the governor's record on crime and drugs and criticized him for vetoing legislation barring transgender girls and women from participating in school sports matching their gender identity. The Republican-led legislature overrode Beshear's veto. “A governor who will not speak out on these issues, and who will not stand up for your interests, has abdicated his responsibility to the commonwealth and is not fit to lead it any longer,” Cameron said. This year, Beshear vetoed a bill banning transgender young people from receiving gender-affirming health care. That veto also was overridden. Beshear has come under GOP criticism for the veto. Beshear said Wednesday that every youngster should be treated “as a child of God.” “At the end of the day, I think what’s been done here attacks parents’ rights, and I believe medical decisions for children are best left to their parents and not big government stepping in,” he said. Beshear said he is ready to run on a record of economic growth, support for public schools and increased help for people battling drug addiction. The governor noted that hundreds of Kentucky National Guard soldiers have been deployed to the nation’s southwest border during his term in office. Kentucky will continue to “do our part when asked,” he said, declaring that “border security is national security.” He pointed to advances in providing clean drinking water to Kentuckians and getting a new Ohio River bridge built to ease traffic congestion between Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. A bridge “isn’t red or blue, it’s just really important for our families,” the governor said. Beshear now faces an electorate that has turned increasingly Republican since he won the office. He said voters will hear a message from him driven by faith and values, not partisan politics. “For me, my values are rooted in my faith,” Beshear said. “And my faith teaches me that we’re supposed to live with love and compassion, not anger and division." Cameron is the first major-party Black nominee for governor in Kentucky’s history. "To anyone who looks like me, know that you can achieve anything," he said after winning the nomination. To Beshear, "it's taken far too long to have a Black nominee of either party for governor. But I think what the attorney general said last night is right, that in this campaign people are going to judge us by our record and our values." Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide VIDEO FOR YOU: Kentucky Gov. Beshear discusses jobs, his campaign and abortion AP News Digest 3:30 am AP News Digest 3:20 am