The Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom has filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Amarillo on behalf of several Christian medical organizations trying to overturn the HHS and FDA’s approval of the abortion medication mifepristone.
The groups are claiming that the FDA exceeded its authority 22 years ago when it approved mifepristone for use as a chemical abortion drug. An HHS spokesperson defended the medication, saying that “denying women access to any essential care they need is downright dangerous and extreme.”
The Alliance Defending Freedom also represented Masterpiece Cake Shop in their successful suit against the Colorado Civil Rights Commission and their effort to force owner Jack Philips to bake cakes for gay weddings.
“The FDA’s approval of chemical abortion drugs has always stood on shaky legal and moral ground, and after years of evading responsibility, it’s time for the government to do what it’s legally required to do: protect the health and safety of vulnerable girls and women,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Erik Baptist said in a statement.
Related: Nearly Two-thirds of Women Suffer Emotional Trauma From Chemical ‘Toilet Bowl’ Abortions
This is especially true after the FDA allowed for prescriptions of mifepristone to be sent through the mail during the pandemic.
The plaintiffs in Friday’s lawsuit said the FDA improperly approved mifepristone for abortion in 2000 under an expedited process intended to allow patients quicker access to better treatments for an illness, even though pregnancy is not an illness, and waived a requirement to study it separately for pediatric patients.
The Supreme Court’s June ruling put a spotlight on medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions. A Dutch supplier of abortion pills by mail saw demand surge in the wake of the decision, which has allowed more than 20 states to begin enforcing new restrictions on abortion.
Mifepristone and its companion drug misoprostol were approved in great haste in 2000 and the anti-abortion groups say that not all the facts were considered.
The group argues that in 2000, the FDA fast-tracked the approval of mifepristone for abortion, adding that the regulator “never studied the safety of the drugs” and “ignored the potential impacts” that the drug can have on minors.
“[T]he FDA disregarded the substantial evidence that chemical abortion drugs cause more complications than even surgical abortions.”
“Since then, the FDA has not followed the science, reversed course, or fixed its mistakes — all to the detriment of women and girls. Instead, the FDA has doubled down on its actions and removed the few safeguards that were in place,” the lawsuit says.
The plaintiffs in the case are asking a court in Texas to declare the drug’s approval “unlawful” and to vacate it.
The problem for the plaintiffs is that mifepristone and misoprostol can both be used to treat other medical conditions. Misoprostol can also be used to treat ulcers and to induce labor, while mifepristone is used in the treatment of gynecologic conditions, cancer, and Cushing’s disease. Of course, there are other treatments for those conditions, but the courts in the past have shown themselves loathe to remove a treatment for any disease.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member