AAF applauds the Fifth Circuit’s ruling pausing the FDA’s illegal 2023 mail-order abortion rule. This decision is consistent with what pro-life Americans have been saying for years: shipping chemical abortion through the mail is illegal and undermines legitimate state authority to protect life.
As the Fifth Circuit explained, “Every abortion facilitated by FDA’s action cancels Louisiana’s ban on medical abortions and undermines its policy that ‘every unborn child is a human being from the moment of conception and is, therefore, a legal person.’” This is a major win for life and the rule of law.
“For more than 20 years, the FDA has been dodging review of its approval and later deregulation of chemical abortion,” said AAF General Counsel J. Marc Wheat. “Thanks to an AAF FOIA lawsuit launched against the Biden FDA, it is now going to be forced to produce 125,000 pages of documents, including material demanded by Congress decades ago. The Fifth Circuit’s decision today is a critical step towards holding the FDA accountable and protecting women and the unborn.”
This decision is consistent with AAF’s ask in its amicus brief joined by 43 other amici in this case at the district court in Louisiana.