Two Judges, Two Abortion Pill Rulings—'Totally Different Worlds’

The two US district court judges who issued conflicting orders on an abortion drug last week are both former federal prosecutors and that’s where the similarities between them end.

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who said the US government’s decades-old approval of mifepristone should be suspended nationwide, has spent his entire career in Texas—including as the general counsel for a conservative religious legal group. As a Trump-appointed judge, he’s become a magnet for conservative lawyers seeking favorable outcomes.

Thomas O. Rice, who issued a preliminary injunction to keep the drug on the market in 17 states and D.C. the same day, was ...