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Last November, a coalition of four medical associations and four doctors filed a lawsuit against the FDA challenging approval of the abortion drug mifepristone. This drug kills the unborn baby by blocking the nutrients that keep him alive. The companion drug misoprostol expels the tissue.
Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on the coalition’s behalf. The coalition contended that the FDA’s approval was illegal.
As the medical groups and doctors filing suit explain, by approving chemical abortion drugs, the FDA failed to abide by its legal obligations to protect the health, safety, and welfare of girls and women.
The medical professionals stated in the complaint that the FDA failed to study the drugs’ safety under the “labeled condition of use, ignored the potential impacts of the hormone-blocking regimen on the developing bodies of adolescent girls, disregarded the substantial evidence that chemical abortion drugs cause more complications than surgical abortions, and eliminated necessary safeguards for pregnant girls and women who undergo this dangerous drug regime.”
Twenty-two states on Friday filed an amicus brief in the case. The states include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
The states contend that the FDA’s approval of abortion drugs undermines the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which sent abortion back to the states. Allowing pharmacies to prescribe and mail these drugs within states that restrict abortion circumvents the restrictions.
The states also agree with the coalition’s concern that the FDA failed in its obligation to protect the health, safety, and welfare of girls and women.
Photo credit: Robin Marty (Creative Commons) – Some rights reserved
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