Trump’s DOJ adopts Biden admin’s stance in abortion pill case

The Justice Department on Monday asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone, mirroring the Biden administration’s stance.

In November 2022, pro-life advocates filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for expanding access to mifepristone after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. Where women previously could only obtain the pill in hospitals and clinics, the Biden FDA changed its guidelines to make the pill available in pharmacies and even by mail. A large black market has since developed, operated by Left-wing networks that mail mifepristone to residents in states where the abortion may not be legal. Some of these are late-term abortions.

The lawsuit against the FDA reached the Supreme Court. The Biden DOJ asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the complaint because the plaintiffs lacked standing, and in 2023, the high court agreed.

Now, three states are trying to revive the lawsuit, but are being met with the same resistance from the Trump administration. The attorneys general of Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas are suing the FDA to revert to its earlier guidelines and make mifepristone available only in hospitals and clinics. But on Monday, the Trump DOJ filed a 15-page motion with the District Court for the Northern District of Texas, asking Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk to dismiss the case on the grounds that the plaintiffs lack jurisdiction. Kacsmaryk is a pro-life Trump appointee, according to the New York Times. 

“The states do not dispute that their claims have no connection to the Northern District of Texas,” the DOJ wrote in the filing. “Regardless of the merits of the states’ claims, the states cannot proceed in this court,” they added, asking that the complaint “be dismissed or transferred for lack of venue.”

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey responded to the filing on Tuesday by emphasizing mifepristone’s danger to women’s health.

“Beyond a reasonable doubt, the evidence clearly establishes that mifepristone poses a grave risk to the health of women. The most recent study says 1 in 9 women who ingest this powerful chemical will end up in the ER or worse,” Bailey wrote on X. “Regardless of which venue is proper for a lawsuit, Missouri will always fight to protect the health and safety of women and demand the FDA acknowledge the data and reinstate critical regulations to prevent the needless loss of human life.”

Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) responded to the DOJ’s filing by saying the Trump administration is making a “serious mistake.”

Hawley also slammed the FDA last week after FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the agency has “no plans” to restrict access to mifepristone. 

“Exceptionally disappointing to say the least. Not a good beginning at the FDA,” Hawley said.

The risks of mifepristone

Last week, the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) published the largest-ever study on mifepristone. Using an insurance claims database, researchers analyzed 865,727 mifepristone abortions between 2017 and 2023. They found that within 45 days of taking the pill, 10.93% of women experienced serious adverse events such as sepsis, infection, cardiac issues, anaphylaxis, or hemorrhage. EPPC notes that this rate is at least 22 times higher than the 0.5% rate displayed on the drug label.

The FDA’s prescribing label for mifepristone only warns that between 2.9% and 4.6% of women who take the pill require ER visits.

Last year, a team of researchers from the Charlotte Lozier Institute teamed up with physicians from the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists to conduct a study on mifepristone by analyzing ER visits. The researchers selected four cohorts of women: women with no pregnancies, women who gave birth, women who had surgical abortions, and women who had chemical abortions by taking mifepristone. Using data from 2004 to 2015, they looked for any increase in ER visits by these women within 30 days of their outcomes. The group with no pregnancies was analyzed according to all their visits across the 11-year period. They discovered that ER visits among women who gave birth increased by 9.2%, among women with no pregnancies by 42.8%, among women who had surgical abortions by 280.4%, and among women who took mifepristone by 2,649.7%. There was a similar scale for ER visits coded as “severe” or “critical.”

‍