(LifeSiteNews) — The Trump administration is asking another court to dismiss another state’s challenge to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) relaxation of abortion pill rules, this time in Missouri.
Missouri, Kansas, and Idaho are among the states suing the federal government over its Biden-era removal of the requirement that abortion drugs be dispensed in-person. The change, which opened the pills to being prescribed over the internet and distributed by mail, drastically expanded their usage, encroached on state law, and put women at risk, according to the lawsuits.
Last Friday, the Trump Department of Justice filed a motion seeking either a stay or dismissal of Missouri et al v. FDA. The filing argues that the “FDA has concluded that the best path forward is for the agency to undertake its review based on all the evidence before the agency,” and the states’ challenge “threaten[s] to short-circuit the agency’s orderly review […] Moreover, awarding relief to these Plaintiffs could easily prompt other plaintiffs to seek a conflicting injunction that would sow administrative and judicial chaos.”
“To prevent that disruption, the Court should exercise its inherent authority to stay this litigation pending the outcome of FDA’s review,” the Justice Department argues. “FDA’s review will necessarily result in a new agency decision that could supersede the agency actions that Intervenor Plaintiffs challenge, obviating any need to consider the merits of Intervenor Plaintiffs’ arguments. Any party adversely affected by the new agency decision on mifepristone may seek judicial review at that time. And in the event FDA determines a REMS modification is needed, adherence to FDA’s normal process will create far less disruption than the judicially imposed changes sought by Intervenor Plaintiffs.”
The motion also claims the states lack standing and “suffer no sovereign injury because they remain free to make and enforce their pro-life policies.” The administration’s arguments are largely the same as those made in January, when it filed a motion seeking the same outcome in Louisiana’s lawsuit.
“Once again, the Trump-Vance Justice Department is taking the side of abortion drug dealers and the radical Left against women and children, public health and safety, and the overwhelmingly pro-life GOP base,” responded SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Burying this shameful move in a Friday evening news dump underscores how indefensible it is. On top of this, in a federal court hearing less than two weeks ago, the administration admitted it has NO details on the timeline for Commissioner Makary’s promised safety study of mifepristone – if indeed it has really begun.”
Many pro-lifers are losing patience waiting for the FDA’s review, which was promised last May but has received no conclusions or significant follow-up since.
Last month, a group of senators held a private meeting with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, after which Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) went so far as to declare, “I just don’t think that that review is even underway.” The FDA claims it is merely taking the time to process and review all the data carefully.
Mail-order abortion pills have become arguably the abortion lobby’s most important tool for perpetuating abortion-on-demand and undermining pro-life laws, as it makes chemical abortions even in pro-life states extremely difficult to prevent.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s most recent annual report revealed that, almost two years (as of April 2024) after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed direct abortion bans to be enforced for the first time in half a century, the nation’s largest abortion chain still operated almost 600 facilities nationwide, through which it committed 392,715 in the most recent reporting period. According to the Lozier Institute’s Prof. Michael New, that is a “record number of abortions for the organization and represents approximately 40 percent of the abortions performed in the United States.”