Advancing American Freedom led a coalition of 43 other amici filing an amicus brief in Louisiana v. FDA, a case in which the state of Louisiana is challenging the FDA’s 2021 rule change allowing mifepristone, the chemical abortion drug responsible for 60% of all abortions, to be prescribed without an in-person visit to the doctor.
Rosalie Markezich, a Louisiana woman, did not want an abortion. Yet, since the FDA no longer requires women to meet with a medical professional to obtain a mifepristone prescription, her then-boyfriend was able to obtain chemical abortion drugs from a California abortionist through the mail. He then coerced Roselie into taking the abortion pill which killed her baby and left her with lasting mental health challenges, physical pain, and heavy bleeding.
Abortionists should not be able to disregard the laws of pro-life states made possible by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Ignored by the FDA to increase access to abortion drugs, since 1873, the Comstock Act has expressly prohibited the mailing of abortion materials, including any “thing . . . intended for producing abortion.” Yet the FDA’s removal of the in-person visit requirement facilitates exactly that.
“Abortion is always dangerous. But when women or abusive boyfriends can obtain dangerous abortion drugs without critical health screenings or confirmation of the woman’s consent, women and the unborn are at even greater risk. The FDA’s longstanding requirement that abortion drugs be obtained in-person, therefore, not only protected the health of women but was consistent with efforts by states like Louisiana to keep abortion drugs out,” said AAF General Counsel J. Marc Wheat. “The FDA has directly harmed Louisiana and undermined the exercise of its authority to prohibit abortion drugs. We urge the Court to rule for Louisiana and Rosalie.”