(CTN News) – Democratic-led states in the United States have filed suit against the Food and Drug Administration to overturn federal regulations restricting access to the abortion medication mifepristone.
The case, filed on Thursday in federal court in Yakima, Washington and spearheaded by Washington and Oregon, seeks to increase access to mifepristone by making it available for prescription and dispensing by any physician or pharmacist.
Presently, both prescribers and dispensing pharmacies must meet specific certification requirements before legally offering mifepristone to patients.
Meanwhile, in Texas, anti-abortion advocates have filed a second lawsuit to block the drug’s distribution.
In 2000, the FDA authorized mifepristone with misoprostol for medical abortion within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
More than half of all abortions in the United States are induced by pharmaceuticals.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade verdict, which had allowed abortion statewide, there has been a renewed interest in using medication to induce abortion.
More than a dozen states with Republican governors could pass fresh abortion prohibitions thanks to the ruling.
On Friday, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson stated that the federal government has known for years that mifepristone is safe and effective.
“After the Supreme Court’s unprecedented decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the FDA is putting doctors, pharmacists, and patients in harm’s way.
The FDA’s stringent regulations on this life-saving medication are unjustified.”
The lawsuit claims that “several other common pharmaceuticals FDA controls, like Viagra and Tylenol,” are “more dangerous than mifepristone.”
The other states involved are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
A representative for the FDA declined to address the lawsuit.
Anti-Abortion Movement Seeks Nationwide Ban on Mifepristone in Texas Lawsuit
The anti-abortion movement has petitioned a federal judge in Texas to ban the sale of mifepristone across the country because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug using an incorrect method and did not properly assess the drug’s safety for children.
Democratic-led states are urging the court to decide that the FDA’s approval of mifepristone is legitimate and valid, which may clash with any order in the Texas case and necessitate intervention from federal appeals courts.
The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) tight regulations on mifepristone are part of a program designed to reduce the dangers of medications like it.
Since instituting those limitations, the EPA had repeatedly eased up, most recently in January when it authorized approved retail pharmacies to dispense mifepristone.
Democratic President Joseph Biden ordered federal agencies to increase access to medication abortion after the Supreme Court’s decision last year.
Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice president of the United States, defended mifepristone on Friday after meeting with reproductive rights groups at the White House.
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