Louisiana Still Waging Legal Battle Over Abortion Drugs in Federal Court
The State of Louisiana and our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom are waging an ongoing legal battle over the abortion drug mifepristone in federal court.
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. As a result, abortion is prohibited in states like Arkansas except to save the life of the mother, and it is against the law to mail abortion drugs into many states.
But under President Biden, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration adopted rules that let abortionists send abortion drugs like mifepristone through the mail.
Pro-abortion lawmakers in other states have also enacted “shield laws” to prevent abortionists from being held accountable when they mail abortion drugs into states like Arkansas.
To make matters worse, the U.S. Department of Justice has opposed federal lawsuits from pro-lifers who want to stop mail-order abortion in their states.
All of this has created a dangerous industry of abortion-by-mail both in Arkansas and across the nation.
But the State of Louisiana has filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s mail-order abortion rules, and that legal challenge is before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The case has moved back in forth in federal court all year.
In April, a federal district court upheld Louisiana’s ability to challenge the FDA and said that Louisiana is likely to win the case, but the court did not immediately block mail-order abortion drugs.
On May 1, a three-judge panel from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the FDA’s abortion drug protocols while the lawsuit moves forward. The ruling would have reinstated the requirement that mifepristone be dispensed in-person instead of through the mail.
But almost immediately, two abortion drug manufacturers asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let mail-order abortion drugs continue until the lawsuit is resolved. On May 14, the Court issued a stay that lets abortion-by-mail continue while Louisiana’s case proceeds.
In the meantime, Louisiana has continued to pursue its case in federal court. Oral arguments in the state’s lawsuit against the FDA are happening today.
On June 18, Family Council joined other pro-life organizations in an amicus brief arguing the court should side with Louisiana and block abortion drugs from being delivered by mail.
The amicus brief points out that states have the authority to restrict or prohibit abortion, and the FDA’s abortion rules run afoul of state and federal laws.
Family Council is also encouraging everyone to take two simple steps to help oppose chemical abortion drugs:
The first is to send a message asking Congress to support the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act.
The second is to ask the federal government to stop letting abortionists deliver abortion drugs through the mail.
The Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act by Senator Josh Hawley (MO) and Representative Diana Harshbarger (TN) would withdraw the FDA’s approval of mifepristone. This would remove the abortion drug from the market nationwide.
The bill would also provide a private right of action letting women sue the drug’s manufacturers if they are harmed by the abortion drug.
You can ask your congressmen and senators to co-sponsor the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act by clicking here.
Passing and enforcing the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act could take several months. That’s why we are also asking Arkansans to contact their leaders in Washington, D.C., and urge them to reverse the federal government’s policy that permits mail-order abortion.
Pro-lifers can ask Congress and the Trump Administration to reverse the FDA’s mail-order abortion policy by visiting abortioncrimebymail.com today.
Abortion drugs like mifepristone are dangerous. These drugs hurt women, and they kill unborn children.
Research from the Ethics and Public Policy Center shows 11% of women experience serious health complications from abortion pills — including sepsis, infection, and life-threatening hemorrhage.
These drugs should not be available at all — much less through the mail without an in-person visit with a doctor.
Our federal government needs to recognize how serious this issue is and take immediate steps to protect Americans from these abortion drugs. That is why we hope all pro-lifers will contact their leaders today. Ask them to support the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act and reverse the FDA’s mail-order abortion policy.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
U.S. Issues Sanctions Against Foreign Organization that Aided Violent Pro-Abortion Group “Jane’s Revenge”
Last month, the federal government imposed sanctions on a left-wing terrorist organization accused of aiding violent groups like Jane’s Revenge.
In May of 2022, a draft opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked to the media. After the leak, the domestic terror group Jane’s Revenge fueled violence against dozens of pro-life organizations and claimed credit for attacks like the 2022 firebombing of Wisconsin Family Action.
In response, more than 100 congressmen — including all four congressmen from Arkansas — urged the U.S. Department of Justice to take action against Jane’s Revenge, and U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R – AR) wrote a letter urging the DOJ to investigate Jane’s Revenge as a domestic terror group.
Four members of Jane’s Revenge were eventually brought to justice. Now the United States government is issuing sanctions against a foreign terrorist group it says supported Jane’s Revenge, Antifa, and other violent organizations.
On August 26, the U.S. Department of State designated Autistici/Inventati (A/I Collective) as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
In a statement, the department said, “The A/I Collective is an Italy-based extremist group that supplies the digital infrastructure for Antifa cells and other radical left-wing networks in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere across the world.”
The State Department says A/I Collective provided encryption tools and digital infrastructure to anarchist terror cells in Europe and the United States — including Jane’s Revenge — writing:
“The violent far-left extremists, ‘Jane’s Revenge,’ who waged a firebombing campaign against crisis pregnancy centers across the United States, relied on A/I Collective tools and services to publish official communiqués and claims of responsibility for violent and criminal acts and to incite copycat attacks. Four members of the group were later charged for violating federal law and engaging in a ‘conspiracy against rights’ through threats of force and intimidation.”
It’s taken a long time to reach this point, but the federal government is finally taking action not only against Jane’s Revenge, but also against the other people who aided and abetted the violence Jane’s Revenge caused.
Hopefully, this means we will never again see the kind of pro-abortion violence that we did in 2022.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.