The San Francisco Black & Jewish Unity Coalition denounces the attacks on fundamental health care and civil rights in recent judicial decisions across the country.

The San Francisco Black & Jewish Unity Coalition denounces the attacks

on fundamental health care and civil rights in recent judicial decisions

across the country. These decisions fly in the face of science and medical

evidence. Peoples’ lives are at risk, especially the underserved and the

Black and Brown communities. It doesn’t take only a gun to kill a person,

lack of access to health care can do the same! We must stand together in

solidarity to protect our civil rights. We call on political leaders and health

leaders to take action.

The sweeping ruling in the Braidwood Management v. Becerra on March

30, 2023, by Federal District Judge O’Connor of the Northern District of

Texas, strikes down part of the Affordable Care Act’s requirements that

health plans cover and waive cost-sharing for high-value preventive

services. This means millions could lose access to no-cost early cancer

screenings, mental health assessments, statins for heart disease, PreP to

prevent HIV, and many more life-saving preventive services. And even

before plans actually make changes to coverage for preventive services,

uncertainty about such coverage could cause people to forgo life-saving

procedures. On April 13, the US Department of Justice requested a partial

stay-to stop it from going into effect- while it pursues an appeal of the

Braidwood decision. On May 15, A three-judge motions panel of the US

Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an administrative stay, halting

the nationwide effect of the Braidwood ruling that would effectively end

many of the Affordable Care Act’s preventative care coverage

requirements. It did not rule on the Justice Department’s motion which will

be heard by the merits panel that will hear the appeal.

We condemn the April 7 ruling in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA

by Federal District Judge Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas

granting an injunction that may make mifepristone, one of the two

medications generally used in a medication abortion, which accounts for

over half of all abortions in the United States, unavailable while a lawsuit

challenging FDA approval continues. This ruling is another assault on

women, denying them access to a crucial aspect of reproductive health

care. This ruling is devoid of any scientific basis. Since mifepristone’s

evidence-based approval by the FDA over 20 years ago, it has been used

by millions of people safely and effectively. On April 21, the USSC granted

the Department of Justice’s emergency stay application preventing the

decision from going into effect while appeal proceeds.

If this decision is allowed to stand, it will restrict access to the most widely

used method of abortion and undermine the FDA’s authority on drug

regulation generally. This is a political decision which would open the door

to reversals of other drug approvals based on one individual’s personal or

political belief rather than science and evidence. We must fight this agenda

to roll back bodily autonomy and human rights. Let us join together with

political and health leaders to work to safeguard access to every aspect of

sexual, reproductive and preventative health, and for evidence-based and

science-informed policy.