Boxes of mifepristone, the first pill given in medical abortion, are prepared for patients at the Women’s Reproductive Clinic of Recent Mexico in Santa Teresa, U.S., January 13, 2023.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
A coalition of greater than a dozen Democratic attorney generals sued the Food and Drug Administration on Friday to force the agency to lift all remaining restrictions on the abortion pill, the latest in an escalating series of legal battles over access to the drug.
The Attorney General has asked a federal court in the Eastern District of Washington to declare that the abortion pill, mifepristone, is secure and effective, and that each one other restrictions on the drug are unconstitutional.
The a lawsuit it was led by Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson and AG Ellen Rosenblum of Oregon. Attorneys general for Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, Recent Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont were also a part of the lawsuit.
The attorney general also asked the court to stop the FDA from taking any motion that might remove mifepristone from the market or reduce its availability.
Used together with misoprostol, mifepristone is the most typical approach to abortion in the US, accounting for about half of all abortions.
The lawsuit filed Friday places the FDA in the midst of deep national divisions over access to abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade last summer.
A coalition of doctors who oppose abortion has sued the FDA in federal court in Texas to overturn the agency’s greater than 20-year-old mifepristone approval and withdraw the drug from the US market.
The FDA approved mifepristone in 2000, but placed restrictions on how the drug was distributed. The Agency has progressively relaxed these restrictions over the years, dropping the personal give up requirement.
But some rules still apply.
In January, the FDA allowed retail pharmacies to dispense mifepristone in the event that they passed the certification process. The patient should have a prescription from a healthcare skilled who’s certified under the federal mifepristone monitoring program.
Certified pharmacies can ship pills by mail, but in line with the FDA, they have to use a shipping service that gives tracking information.
CVS AND Walgreens they said they are undergoing a certification process but will only dispense mifepristone where it’s legal under each state and federal law. At the very least 12 states have banned abortion with few exceptions, and other states have stricter drug restrictions than what’s required by the FDA.
Republican attorneys general warned CVS and Walgreens against shipping mifepristone to their states.
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