Pro-life advocates remain hopeful after positive hearing on restricting chemical abortion

A federal court in Louisiana heard arguments Tuesday regarding the health and safety of thousands of women and many more unborn babies’ lives – and pro-life lawyers are hopeful.

The state of Louisiana is suing the Food and Drug Administration for its unregulated shipment of chemical abortion pills into any state, regardless of the state’s pro-life laws.

The FDA claims a review into mifepristone, the chemical abortion drug, is “ongoing,” but refuses to re-establish medical protections for women that were removed during the Biden administration.

Such protections include requiring an in-person doctor’s visit to both determine the stage of the pregnancy and screen for abuse or coercion. Furthermore, permitting mifepristone to be mailed across state lines undermines the pro-life laws of more than 20 states, which is what the Biden administration intended, plaintiffs argue.

“Abortions have tragically increased in Louisiana and other pro-life states because of the withdrawal of in-person dispensing requirements,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a post on X the morning of the hearing.

“Behind the statistics is a woman abandoned by an irresponsible doctor who dispensed these drugs without any medical oversight and a baby whose life will be terminated.”

Alliance Defending Freedom is representing the state of Louisiana and resident Rosalie Markezich, who lost her baby after her boyfriend allegedly coerced her to take abortion pills he received in the mail.

In a court hearing in Lafayette, Louisiana, Tuesday, ADF requested Judge David Joseph of the Western District of Louisiana grant preliminary relief, which would reinstate previous federal protections – requiring an in-person doctor’s visit to prescribe mifepristone – while the case and the FDA’s study proceed.

Neither the court nor the Department of Justice disputes the real injuries Louisiana suffers – including 1000 unlawful abortions a month and the associated medical costs, ADF Senior Counsel Erik Baptist told The Lion in an interview.

“Thousands of babies are dying each month,” Baptist said. “Women are being coerced and taking these drugs because men and abusers are ordering them online and obtaining them from out of state providers, because they’ve been enabled and emboldened by the FDA decision to authorize mail order abortion drugs. No one was disputing any of those facts.”

The FDA requested the court pause the case while its “ongoing study” continues, but re-implementing safeguards for women would have no impact on the study, according to Baptist. When the judge asked about the study and its timeline, the DOJ said the study began in January and should be completed in one year.

This timeline is unrealistic, Baptist explained, given the FDA has not even produced a “Request for Proposal” to review insurance data and other studies. The FDA’s own outline for the study suggests it will take multiple years. Pausing the case while this lengthy study ensues “would put our case on ice for the next year or two, at least,” Baptist said.

At the hearing, Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro – two manufacturers of mifepristone – requested to join the case in support of the FDA, and in defense of mailing the chemical abortion drug.

“We had a lengthy round of arguments, which included arguments by Danco Laboratories and GenBio Pro, the manufacturers of these drugs, who appear to be here solely to protect their profit margins,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said, following the hearing. “That is an astonishingly disturbing thing that they would show up in federal court here to protect profit off the death of babies.”

These companies, and others like them, rake in more profit from pro-life states because the demand for mail-ordered abortion pills is exceedingly higher in these states than others, Baptist explained. In Louisiana, 100% of abortions are chemical and provided through the shipment of mifepristone, according to We Count Data. But in pro-abortion states, such as New York and California, mailed chemical abortions pills comprise only 10-11% of all abortions because women choose in-person appointments, according to the same data.

So, the companies’ main profits overwhelmingly come from the illegal shipment of mifepristone into pro-life states, Baptist explained. He noted that on Danco’s website, “plan c” outlines how individuals in pro-life states can obtain these drugs illegally.

“They’re trying to perpetuate the unlawful distribution of the drugs,” he said.

The case has received national attention on both sides of the abortion debate, which further demonstrates its “impact and gravity,” Baptist said.

Chemical abortion pills not only pose mortal risk to unborn babies but also significant danger to women, especially when the stage of her pregnancy is undetermined, ADF argues. More than 10% of women suffer serious adverse effects – including hemorrhaging and sepsis – after taking mifepristone, according to research from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) published last spring.

“These drugs have a ‘Black Box Warning’ and these leaders recognize the dangers of these politically driven Biden-era rules,” Murrill said in her post Tuesday morning. “The FDA should withdraw this rule now for the health and safety of women and the unborn.”