March 6, 2023
Cheyenne Vandeventer, SFLAction Intern
GUEST POST: Seizing the opportunity to protect preborn babies and their mothers from a deadly drug, 23 Attorneys General from across the nation have taken action against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a pending lawsuit. Chemical Abortion Pills could be prohibited nationwide as a result of this case.
Attorneys General (AG) from 23 states joined the Texas lawsuit, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine vs. FDA, to essentially ask the court to prohibit the sale of Chemical Abortion Pills nationwide. This case, backed by four pro-life medical organizations and four pro-life individual physicians, asks the court to issue an injunction ordering the FDA to remove their approval of Chemical Abortion Pills.
If Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine is granted injunction relief, the FDA would have to remove their approval for the Chemical Abortion Pill. Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion vendor in America, said the action would effectively limit the distribution of the Chemical Abortion drug nationwide — and they’re absolutely correct for once. With Chemical Abortion making up an estimated 54% of all abortions, hundreds of thousands of preborn babies could be saved from an untimely death with limited access to these drugs.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who helped take down Roe v. Wade, joined the lawsuit by filing a brief on Friday, February 10th. The brief states:
“The FDA’s actions here have two basic legal flaws. First, the FDA’s approval of mifepristone defies the agency’s own regulations. Second, the FDA’s actions defy federal criminal law. The serious nature of the FDA’s unlawful actions, and the agency’s decision to invite lawbreaking by private parties and government actors across the country, favors broad relief. The FDA and the Administration as a whole have no intention to respect the Constitution, the Supreme Court, or the democratic process when it comes to abortion.”
AGs from the following 21 states joined the brief as well: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
On the same day that Mississippi AG filed the brief, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a separate brief highlighting the dangers of Chemical Abortion Pills. Bailey stated, “This brief raises awareness of the serious harm these abortion drugs impose on women. My office will do everything in its power to uphold the law and protect Missourians.”
Since its reckless approval by the FDA in 2000, Chemical Abortion Pills have killed millions of preborn babies. The first pill, Mifepristone, starves preborn babies of the necessary nutrients to survive, and the second pill, Misoprostol, forces contractions to expel the deceased baby. The FDA scandalously forced this fatal drug through the approval process by acting like it was a lifesaving drug when it’s actually the opposite. Chemical Abortion Pills should have never been approved by the FDA.
These drugs have caused many complications for women, including death, hospitalizations, loss of blood requiring transfusions, and severe infections.
The Missouri brief reported, “Across the country, abortionists routinely violate the medical standard of care when issuing abortion drugs, thus increasing the risks faced by women, and the medical literature substantially understates the true risk from abortion drugs because abortionists systemically fail to report complications. Given the persistent violation of the law by abortionists in Missouri — and almost assuredly elsewhere — it is highly likely that the actual complication rate from abortion drugs is much higher than the rate printed in established medical literature.”
These AGs are standing up to the FDA and saying no more – if you won’t protect preborn children and women, we will.
This lawsuit could be decided by the end of the month by Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointed judge, who appears to hold pro-life convictions. If appealed, it would go to the 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals, and it might even end up at the U.S. Supreme Court — the very same court that reversed Roe v. Wade last year.