CHARLESTON, West Virginia (LifeSiteNews) — West Virginia is within its rights to protect preborn babies and women from dangerous chemical abortion drugs, a federal court ruled recently.
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a challenge by GenBioPro, which manufactures abortion drugs and thus profits off the destruction of innocent human life.
The abortion drug manufacturer argued only the Food and Drug Administration could restrict access to mifepristone, which it wanted to sell to West Virginia women so they could kill their babies. The company had never sold abortion drugs in West Virginia, however.
The Unborn Child Protection Act, passed soon after the Dobbs decision, generally protects innocent human life in the womb.
However, it includes exceptions for a “medical emergency,” as well as the pregnancies in the first eight weeks for an adult who has been sexually assaulted and 14 weeks for a minor who has been raped. Pro-lifers, affirm however, that all human life is worthy of protection and the dignity of a preborn child does not come from the circumstances of his or her conception. Medical experts have also said direct abortion is never medically necessary.
As the court affirmed, the Dobbs v. Jackson decision in June 2022 made it clear states can regulate, and even prohibit, the intentional destruction of innocent human life.
“For us to once again federalize the issue of abortion without a clear directive from Congress, right on the heels of Dobbs, would leave us one small step short of defiance,” Judge Harvie Wilkinson wrote in the majority opinion.
After providing an analysis of the company’s standing to sue, Wilkinson reiterated how Dobbs gave states broad authority to regulate abortion:
As the Supreme Court recognized in Dobbs, states have regulated abortion since the earliest days of American law. Dobbs made this point one of particular emphasis. It drove the point home. All of the fifty-one state and territorial statutes meticulously analyzed in that decision prohibited the use of medicine or drugs to accomplish an abortion, just as the state law we deal with here does…
…The West Virginia law thus fits comfortably within a long history of state regulation of abortion.
Furthermore, the FDA can set standards for how a drug can be prescribed but does not mandate states allow it, the majority opinion notes.
The majority opinion concluded by dismissing the request by pro-abortion groups to undermine the rule of law, democracy, and the human rights of the unborn and essentially find a “right” to abortion drugs. “[W]e simply lack authority as a federal court to substitute our policy preferences for those of the West Virginia legislature,” the majority opinion states, showing judicial restraint. “Litigation was never meant to displace the hard democratic work of persuading the people’s representatives. The arguments must be matched to the forum, and the mismatch is glaring in this case.”
Opponents of West Virginia’s law were numerous, as were supporters.
Taking the side of Big Pharma and the abortion drug industry were the City of Baltimore, Baltimore County, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.
Meanwhile, a number of groups stood on the side of preborn babies, including numerous state attorneys general, the Thomas More Society, Americans United for Life, Family Research Council, and other pro-life and pro-family groups.
Governor Morrisey celebrated the ruling.
“I defended this law as Attorney General and am proud to see a victory in this case,” Governor Patrick Morrisey said. “West Virginia can continue to enforce our pro-life laws and lead the nation in our efforts to protect life. We will always be a pro-life state!”
Abortion drugs have increased in use following the Biden administration’s decision to remove practically all regulations on their distribution, allowing them to be mailed across the states. They currently account for 63% of all U.S. abortions, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute.
