On Monday Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals asking the court to uphold a West Virginia law prohibiting abortion in most cases.

Family Council joined a separate brief in the case on Monday as well.

The A.G.’s team filed the brief on behalf of the Arkansas Attorney General’s office and 22 other state attorneys general.

After the 2022 Dobbs decision reversed Roe v. Wade, West Virginia strengthened its pro-life laws, but abortion drug manufacturer GenBioPro sued the state. A federal court partially dismissed the lawsuit last August, upholding West Virginia’s pro-life law, but GenBioPro appealed the case to the Fourth Circuit.

In the brief filed Monday, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin led his colleagues, arguing, “West Virginia’s generally applicable abortion ban doesn’t conflict with the FDA’s regulation of [the abortion drug] mifepristone. Rather than attack any particular abortion method—or render a differing judgment on the safety and efficacy questions the FDA has addressed— West Virginia’s law says, on entirely distinct moral grounds, that abortions may not be performed altogether.”

This federal court case in West Virginia could affect pro-life laws around the country in the future. With that in mind, it’s good to see Arkansas’ attorney general leading the way in defending pro-life laws in federal court.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.