(LifeSiteNews) – The Trump administration is weighing in against the state of Louisiana’s efforts to overturn the Biden-era liberalization of abortion pill regulations, further frustrating pro-life supporters of President Donald Trump just days after the administration framed itself as an ally at the March for Life.
Last fall, Louisiana sued the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) over its removal of the requirement that abortion drugs be dispensed in-person that drastically expanded their usage, encroached on state law, and harmed women such as co-plaintiff Rosalie Markezich.
“Rosalie took abortion drugs that her boyfriend obtained via the U.S. Postal Service from a doctor in California. Rosalie did not want to have an abortion,” the lawsuit maintains. “But far from empowering Rosalie to make her own choice and preserving her autonomy, mail-order abortion drugs had Rosalie feeling trapped and terrified. She grieves the loss of her child and endures lasting emotional trauma.”
The change “directly violates Louisiana’s abortion laws and prevents Louisiana from protecting the lives of unborn babies despite the promise of Dobbs,” Louisiana argues. “That conduct also has directly generated medical emergencies that harm Louisiana women and emergency room visits that harm the State.”
The lawsuit is ongoing, but on Tuesday the Trump FDA filed a motion urging the court to at least temporarily deny relief to Louisiana and Markezich, arguing they lacked legal standing and claiming a judgment in the case would interfere with the agency’s alleged ongoing review of the abortion pill.
“Plaintiffs now threaten to short circuit the agency’s orderly review and study of the safety risks of mifepristone by asking this Court for an immediate stay of the 2023 REMS Modification approved three years ago,” the motion says. “They would have this Court set aside the 2023 REMS Modification — all without the benefit of FDA’s expertise, and even as the agency is already reconsidering the matter in its review. And Plaintiffs’ requested relief may prove as unnecessary as it is disruptive, if FDA ultimately decides that the in-person dispensing requirement must be restored.”
“To prevent that disruption, the Court should exercise its inherent authority to stay this litigation pending the outcome of FDA’s review of the mifepristone REMS,” it asked. “FDA’s review will necessarily result in a new agency decision that could supersede the 2023 REMS Modification, obviating any need to consider the merits of Plaintiffs’ arguments challenging the validity of the 2023 REMS Modification. Any party adversely affected by the new agency decision on mifepristone may seek judicial review at that time.”
This rationale did not sit well with Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which condemned the news.
“Today’s denial of justice by the DOJ is completely unacceptable,” SBA president Marjorie Dannenfelser said. “It slams the door on women like Rosalie Markezich and their babies, who are suffering very real harm as the Trump-Vance administration refuses to reimplement basic guardrails on deadly mail-order abortion drugs. Abortion drugs accessible by mail are killing more Americans than fentanyl, cocaine or heroin combined. Women and children are dying and do not have ‘a year or more’ to wait on the FDA. They deserve safeguards NOW.”
“As abortions in America go up instead of down, women are coerced, poisoned and ending up in emergency rooms, and state laws are undermined, it is states like Louisiana that are leading the charge to stop the mail-order abortion drug crisis,” she continued. “The Trump-Vance administration should be standing with Louisiana and supporting states in enforcing their pro-life laws against unscrupulous drug dealers, not holding onto Joe Biden’s disastrous Covid-era policies.”
Last week, Trump addressed the March for Life by video message and Vice President JD Vance appeared in person, praising the gathered pro-life activists, touting the positive aspects of the administration’s record and calling for more work to build a “culture of life.” At one point, Vance acknowledged “an elephant in the room” of pro-life discontent with the administration, but rather than addressing specific objections framed it as a “fear” that “not enough progress has been made, that not enough has happened in the political arena, that we’re not going fast enough, that our politics have failed to answer the clarion call to life that this march represents and that all of us, I believe, hold in our hearts.”
“And I want you to know that I hear you, and that I understand there will inevitably be debates within this movement,” the vice president said. “My friends, I’d ask you to look where the Fight for Life stood just one decade ago and now look where it stands today. We have made tremendous strides over the last year, and we’re going to continue to make strides over the next three years to come. But I’m a realist. I know that there is still much road ahead to travel together.”
However, more than just speed has complicated the pro-life movement’s relationship with the Trump team.
Trump established a consistently pro-life record in his first term, which ended with a hotly disputed loss to Joe Biden in 2020, but began to turn after the 2022 midterm elections, in which he attempted to blame the abortion issue for GOP underperformance. During his 2024 run, he changed further still, ruling out a federal abortion ban in favor of leaving the issue to the states, and changing the Republican Party platform’s longstanding pro-life language to reflect that preference.
He also declared he would not reverse Biden’s decision not to enforce federal law against mailing abortion pills across state lines despite the tactic undermining state pro-life laws. Pro-lifers have hoped that stance might change with the administration’s aforementioned pledge to review the safety data of abortion pills but have been frustrated by the lack of updates amid allegations (which the administration denies) that the review is being slow-walked until after the 2026 midterms.
Taxpayer funding of abortion has been the issue on which Trump has most strongly continued the pro-life record of his first term, cutting off numerous federal sources of tax dollars to the abortion industry. However, Trump recently revived pro-life worries when he told a gathering of House Republicans “you’ve got to be a little flexible on Hyde” for the sake of reaching a deal in the narrowly divided Congress on health care reform.
Asked about the comment the next day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denied any change in position and touted the Trump administration’s record so far of opposing taxpayer funding of abortion but did not specifically rule out some sort of compromise on Hyde in healthcare negotiations, leaving the controversy unresolved.
