The FDA's 20-year approval of a medical abortion pill, Mifepristone, has been invalidated by a Texas judge, Matthew J. Kacsmaryk. The decision was made after claims that the pill was dangerous to women, despite being found to be safe and effective by health care professionals for two decades. The ruling has created nationwide controversy among rights activists and coincides with the historically high maternal mortality rate in the United States. These activists view the judge's decision as an attempt to revoke women's sovereignty over their own bodies, and the FDA's mandate for drug approval by scientific standards. The judge's decision relied in part on a Comstock Act from 1873 that prohibited drugs and substances used in abortions, mailings of contraceptives, and lewd writings. Activists say that the act has not been enforced for decades, and that the judge's decision to invoke it to invalidate the FDA's approval of Mifepristone was deeply misguided. The decision has been met with backlash, with calls for the ruling to be reversed and for fighting back against anti-abortion and anti-women's health rulings across the nation.