Advancing American Freedom led a coalition of 57 other amici in filing an amicus brief in Louisiana v. FDA, a case in which the state of Louisiana is challenging the FDA’s 2023 rule change allowing mifepristone, the chemical abortion drug responsible for 60% of all abortions in the United States today, 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.
In May, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals paused the FDA’s illegal 2023 mail-order abortion rule, determining that Louisiana is likely to succeed on the merits of its challenge. Two weeks later, the Supreme Court reversed, allowing mail-order abortions to resume until the case is decided on the merits. Now, the case is back before the Fifth Circuit.
The FDA’s 2023 Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) enables abortionists to violate both pro-life state and federal laws. The Fifth Circuit was correct that abortionists should not be able to disregard the laws of pro-life states made possible by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. AAF urges the Court to say so again.
“Though Louisiana outlawed abortion in most circumstances and federal law prohibits the mailing of any ‘article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion,’ the FDA’s 2023 rule allowing chemical abortion by mail allows abortionists to disregard both. Abortionists must not be able to violate state and federal laws,” said AAF General Counsel J. Marc Wheat. “In May, the Fifth Circuit granted Louisiana’s request to stay the FDA’s 2023 REMS, finding that Louisiana was likely to win on the merits of its Administrative Procedure Act claim, though the Supreme Court reversed that stay. The Fifth Circuit, now considering the merits, should rule for Louisiana.”