The state argued it has a legal right to sue because, among other reasons, the FDA’s policy allowing medication abortion to be sent through the mail impinges on the state’s “sovereignty.” The hypocrisy is thick, Flaxman says, since the lower court’s decision didn’t just end the mailing of mifepristone to residents of Louisiana, but to … Read more
Although untouched by the Fifth Circuit’s ruling, misoprostol is not necessarily immune to legal attacks. Louisiana’s lawsuit and parallel suits filed by Florida and Missouri argue that the Comstock Act—a dormant, 19th-century anti-obscenity statute that anti-abortion legal strategists have spent years working to resurrect—bars the mailing of any drug used to induce abortion. This reading … Read more
The Supreme Court on Monday provisionally blocked a lower court decision that would have limited availability nationwide of the abortion pill mifepristone. Read more at NBC
Drugmakers file emergency appeal to restore abortion pill access The emergency appeals ask the high court to temporarily restore a federal policy that allows the pills to be prescribed online and delivered by mail, arguing that failing to do so would cause “immediate chaos” and leave patients around the country in limbo. and The decision, … Read more
Appeals court approves sweeping abortion pill restrictions, teeing up SCOTUS showdown The decision, which applies to both states like Louisiana that ban abortion and states that allow the procedure, restores the FDA’s prior policy mandating that patients only obtain the drug in person from a physician. It is arguably the biggest rollback in access to … Read more
Judge David C. Joseph, a Trump-appointed district court judge in Louisiana, handed down a credulous opinion this week about the supposed dangers of mifepristone — but didn’t give Louisiana the abortion restrictions it wanted, at least yet. The red state wants to reimpose restrictions on the drug, primarily the in-person dispensing requirement and a ban … Read more
Anti-abortion Republicans in Congress have begun to be more aggressive about putting restrictions on the drug in recent weeks. Sen. Josh Hawley, R.-Mo., introduced a bill to remove the full approval of mifepristone, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R.-La., announced an investigation into the drugmakers behind mifepristone. Read more at National Public Radio, Inc.
“Louisiana’s request is denied,” Newsom said in a statement. “We will not allow extremist politicians from other states to reach into California and try to punish doctors based on allegations that they provided reproductive health care services. Not today. Not ever.” Read more at Politico
The case represents an additional front in a growing legal battle between liberal and conservative states over prescribing abortion medications via telehealth and mailing them to patients. Read more at NBC News
Letitia James will ‘step in to defend’ New York doctor accused of mailing abortion pills to Texas The move on Monday tees up a showdown between states that ban abortion and those that protect it – one that, legal experts say, challenges fundamental constitutional issues and will likely end up in front of the US … Read more
