Health
Democratic Attorneys General file lawsuit against FDA over abortion pill
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- A coalition of 12 Democratic state attorneys general is suing the FDA, accusing the agency of excessively regulating the abortion pill mifepristone.
- The lawsuit asks the FDA to lift additional layers of regulation above and beyond those for typical prescription drugs and make access to the medication more available to women across the country.
- The lawsuit comes as a federal judge in a separate case in Texas is considering whether to overturn the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug, setting up the possibility of conflicting rulings by different federal judges.
A group of Democratic state attorneys general is suing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over its regulation of the abortion pill mifepristone, according to an NPR report. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington state, accuses the FDA of placing excessive restrictions on the drug that are not required for other prescription medications. Mifepristone was approved by the FDA more than 20 years ago to induce first-trimester abortions in combination with a second drug, misoprostol.
The attorneys general are asking the court to declare the drug to be safe and effective, and to invalidate the additional regulation, known as a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS), which they say is unnecessary. According to the report, the REMS has been applied only to a few dozen high-risk prescription drugs, such as fentanyl and other opioids.
The lawsuit argues that the FDA is “singling out mifepristone…for a unique set of restrictions,” and seeks to make the medication more accessible to women across the country.
While the Biden administration has relaxed some restrictions on the drug in recent years, prescribers are still subject to additional rules, such as special certification requirements. The lawsuit is also being filed as a federal judge in Texas is considering whether to overturn the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug, which could lead to conflicting rulings. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who co-led the lawsuit, said the question of how to regulate mifepristone could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The lawsuit has sparked debate on both sides of the abortion rights issue. The anti-abortion legal group Alliance Defending Freedom is currently leading a challenge to mifepristone’s approval in Texas. Erik Baptist, senior counsel with the group, called it “highly ironic” that the same attorneys general who filed a brief in support of the FDA’s approval of the drug in Texas are now suing the agency over its regulation of the drug.
Meanwhile, major medical groups, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association, have filed an amicus brief in the Texas case calling mifepristone “thoroughly studied” and “conclusively safe.”
Source: NPR
DrBillLemoine
February 28, 2023 at 8:46 am
Excessive regulation of safe abortion pills is discrimination against women, clearly not Constitutional. I’m a Christian and support women’s choice because it’s in the Gospel I follow. Christ did not advocate enacting civil laws–then with Rome in charge of Palestine–against adultery with stoning the punishment, meaning death. His was a loving approach to simply admonish a sinner and let it go at that. Today’s ‘Christians’ want to punish abortion, saying it’s ‘killing’ a baby which is not defined in scripture, notwithstanding the Elizabeth story of a fetus ‘jumping’ in the womb. He did not condone capital punishment in any form. They also want to punish medical providers which is against Christ who, unlike Mosaic Law, seeks no vengeance even for murder. It all refers back to my years long tirade against pastors who have failed to teach the truth in Gospel to their flocks. Two sins don’t make it acceptable for any pregnant woman to abort while persecuted by neighbors as in Texas law. This is a travesty for civil rights AND Gospel tenets.
Kristin Wdowicki
February 28, 2023 at 9:43 pm
Wow! You need a meeting with Christ! You have so mis-construed his message and teaching! I have no doubt you grew up in church but sat there smug and thinking how much smarter you were than anyone else. Being an advocate for an unborn person who actually feels pain and often has the potential to live outside the womb in our modern medical culture, doesn’t have anything to do with punishment of the mother or persecution of anyone! If you are a real doctor, you should be ashamed of such utter trash you have spewed in this post. You, of all people should have a deep respect for life! The abortion pill may, or may not affect a fetus that is old enough to feel the pain of abortion, but you totally took the subject to a demonic level distorting the teaching of Christ and denying the many references that God made in scriptures to forming his creation in the womb and knowing us before we were born! I will pray for you, not as a pious religious person might say, but as a person that felt the anger of the Holy Spirt when I read that trash! God has had enough of the demonic force that has blinded you! Wake up fool, before you find yourself in hell wondering how such an intellectual as your self was not respected by your creator!
Michael Flanagan
February 28, 2023 at 10:37 am
Do you all Realize that if it had not been for Row vs Wade in 1973 there would be over 10 million more Blacks & liberals of Voting age and Concertizes would never ever be able to out vote them. If it had not been for Roe vs WADE this Country would no longer be a split democracy but would already be a Solicits/Communist country.
paulkersey50ca
February 28, 2023 at 12:10 pm
wait what? demoncrats suing the fedguv over too much regulation?!! come on man!
James Herman
February 28, 2023 at 12:30 pm
This drug SHOULD be singled out for a unique set of restrictions as it’s sole purpose is to kill an unborn child. Drugs should be administered to help save lives, relieve pain and fight diseases, NOT to kill unborn children!