The Antiabortion Judge With a Financial Ethics Problem
For years, Allyson Ho has received payments from the Alliance Defending Freedom. When the right-wing advocacy group argued a case in her husband’s court, Judge James Ho cast a decisive vote to cut off remote access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
James Ho, now a judge on the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals, testifies during his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on November 15, 2017. (Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call)
One of the judges who issued Wednesday’s federal court ruling that could significantly reduce access to medication abortions has close ties to the conservative legal advocacy group that argued the case, according to records we reviewed.
A three-judge panel in the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that regulators have improperly expanded access to mifepristone, the main pill used in more than half of abortions in the United States. The ruling preserves the legality of mifepristone but prohibits sending it through the mail or prescribing it through telehealth appointments.
Judge James Ho, who was nominated in 2017 by President Donald Trump, wrote his own opinion, agreeing with the majority in part but going even further to argue that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) approval of mifepristone in 2000 should be invalidated, removing it from the market — as the lower court had concluded.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.