Louisiana sued the FDA this week for allowing the unfettered mailing of abortion drugs across the country.
The suit, filed Monday by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, accused the FDA of enabling leftist activists to mail abortion pills into states like Louisiana, where chemical abortions are illegal. Murrill asked the court to strike down the FDA’s approval during the Biden administration of mail-order abortion pills.
“Every year, doctors and activists in states like California and New York mail a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved abortion drug called mifepristone to thousands of Louisiana residents for the express purpose of causing abortions in Louisiana that are blatantly unlawful,” the suit said. “This extra-territorial mailing of abortion drugs is illegal under state law—and it is the direct result of the Biden Administration’s 2023 agency action expressly facilitating this scheme. That action is the subject of this lawsuit.”
In 2023, the Biden administration changed the Risk Evaluation Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for mifepristone, the drug used in over 60% of all abortions, allowing it to be sent through the mail.
Mifepristone works by starving an unborn child to death by cutting it off from the necessary nutrients provided by its mother. A different drug is then taken to induce labor and expel the deceased baby.
Murrill argued in the suit that the FDA’s regulations for mifepristone are “arbitrary and capricious” and violate the Comstock Act, a federal law that bans the mailing of abortion drugs. Joining the suit was Rosalie Markezich, a woman who says her boyfriend ordered illegal abortion pills from California and was then pressured into taking them to end the life of her unborn child.
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In response to a request for comment on the suit, the Department of Health and Human Services said that it does not comment on pending litigation. HHS did point The Daily Wire to its commitment to conducting a study on the reported adverse effects of mifepristone.
“The Biden administration removed mifepristone’s in-person dispensing rule without studying the safety risks. We are filling that gap. Last month, I joined [FDA Commissioner Marty Makary] in writing to state attorneys general, pledging to review all the evidence — including real-world outcomes — on the safety of this drug. Recent studies already point to serious risks when mifepristone is used without proper medical oversight,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said earlier this month.
The suit comes after pro-life advocates were shocked last week after the FDA approved a new generic mifepristone pill. Fifty-two Republican senators sent a letter on Thursday to the FDA and HHS urging them to scrap the regulations that allow the mailing of abortion drugs.
The FDA has said that it was required by law to approve the new generic drug and noted that it was conducting a review of the Biden guidelines. On a press call on Wednesday, SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said she was skeptical of that reasoning.
“This standard only seems to apply to this particular drug. It [has] certainly not been the standard for other drugs where there were questions that needed to be asked, that needed to get answers from those that were developing the drugs,” she said.
