State AGs Sue FDA Over Unlawfully Approving Mail-Order Abortion Drugs During COVID

by Emily Wood Hawley

Attorneys general of Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas announced on November 6 they filed a lawsuit to sue the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for failing to protect the health and welfare of Americans by unlawfully approving the shipment of the chemical abortion pill, mifepristone, during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas claims the FDA has “shamelessly [flouted]” its regulations and federal statutes for over two decades.  

“Now, Plaintiffs ask the Court to step in and protect women and girls by holding unlawful, setting aside, and vacating the FDA’s actions to both approve chemical abortion drugs and eviscerate crucial safeguards for those who undergo this dangerous drug regime,” the lawsuit read. 

The lawsuit claims the FDA’s review, approval, and deregulation of chemical abortion drugs has taken place over 30 years and "crossed several presidential administrations." But during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, the FDA issued a “Non-Enforcement Decision” that stopped requiring abortionists to provide in-person dispensing of mifepristone, allowing mail-order chemical abortions during the COVID-19 public health emergency. 

Mifepristone is dangerous for women and girls. Enabling pregnant women to receive the drug in the mail makes them more vulnerable to risky side effects and complications since there is no medical oversight and no way to confirm the unborn baby’s gestational age, which can lead to increased complications. Since the chemical abortion is administered at home, many women are far from medical access in case of complications.  

Women receiving a chemical abortion are roughly 50% more likely to require an emergency room visit within 30 days compared to women who received a surgical abortion and are also more likely to suffer from PTSD intrusion and other complications. Still, a large portion of women who go to the emergency room for chemical abortion complications are improperly coded for having a natural miscarriage. 

Chemical abortions have a complication rate four times more than surgical abortions, with roughly one in five women suffering from a complication, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.  

The lawsuit also explains how the FDA’s mail-order abortion drug further assists sex traffickers to force abortions on their victims without allowing authorities to identify victims. 

"[The FDA] failed America’s women and girls when it chose politics over science and approved risky, untested chemical abortion drugs for use in the United States. And it has continued to fail them by turning a blind eye to these harms and repeatedly removing even the most basic precautionary requirements associated with the use of these risky drugs,” the lawsuit states.  

The lawsuit claims that the FDA accelerated the drug authority approval by calling pregnancy an “illness.” It claims the FDA exceeded its authority by approving the drug on a false conclusion.  

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver was quick to refute the faulty premise stating that “pregnancy is not an illness. It is the gift of life.” 

“Mail-order abortion pills should have never been approved,” Staver added. “The FDA authorization was invalid and done only for political reasons. The FDA should be a gatekeeper to keep people safe from harmful drugs. In this case, the FDA unleashed death upon America.” 

The lawsuit asks the court to issue a permanent injunction for the FDA to withdraw mifepristone and misoprostol as approved chemical abortion drugs and to withdraw actions to deregulate the drugs.  

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a statement that he is proud to lead a “coalition of states to halt the FDA’s illegal federal overreach in its tracks.”  

“Unelected federal bureaucrats do not have the statutory authority to approve the shipment of these dangerous chemical abortion drugs in the mail,” Bailey added. “The FDA’s guidance is not only unlawful, but would cost the lives of both women and their unborn children.” 

Missouri requested that the court combine this lawsuit with Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, which Alliance Defending Freedom filed last year.