Boxes of mifepristone, the primary pill given in a medical abortion, are prepared for patients at Women’s Reproductive Clinic of Recent Mexico in Santa Teresa, U.S., January 13, 2023.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
A coalition of a dozen Democratic attorneys general sued the Food and Drug Administration on Friday to force the agency to drop all remaining restrictions on the abortion pill, the most recent case in an escalating series of legal battles over access to the medication.
The attorneys general asked a federal court within the eastern district of Washington to declare that the abortion pill, mifepristone, is protected and effective and that every one remaining restrictions on the medication are unconstitutional.
The lawsuit was led by Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Oregon’s AG Ellen Rosenblum. The attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, Recent Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont were also a part of the suit.
The attorneys general also asked the court to forestall the FDA from taking any motion that will remove mifepristone from the market or reduce its availability.
Used together with misoprostol, mifepristone is probably the most common method to terminate a pregnancy within the U.S., accounting for about half of all abortions.
The lawsuit filed Friday puts the FDA in the midst of the nation’s deep divisions over access to abortion within the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade last summer.
A coalition of physicians who oppose abortion have sued the FDA in federal court in Texas to overturn the agency’s approval of mifepristone, which dates back greater than 20 years, and yank the medication from the U.S. market.
The FDA approved mifepristone in 2000, but imposed restrictions on how the medication is distributed. The agency has step by step eased those restrictions through the years, dropping an in-person shelling out requirement.
But there are still some regulations in place.
In January, the FDA allowed retail pharmacies to dispense mifepristone in the event that they undergo a certification process. The patient is required to have a prescription from a health-care provider who’s certified under a federal program that monitors mifepristone.
Certified pharmacies can send the pill by mail, but they should use shipping services that provide tracking information, in keeping with FDA.
CVS and Walgreens have said they’re going through the certification process, but they’ll only dispense mifepristone where it’s legal to achieve this under each state and federal law. Not less than 12 states have banned abortion, with few exceptions, and other states have tighter restrictions on the medication than what the FDA requires.
Republican attorneys general have warned CVS and Walgreens against shipping mifepristone of their states.
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