Trump Admin: It Could Take Another Year to Review Abortion Pill Safety
The Trump administration’s Justice Department is seeking to deny relief in a lawsuit aimed at restricting access to mail-order abortion drugs, arguing that an ongoing Food and Drug Administration safety review of mifepristone could take a year or more to complete, potentially stretching into 2027.
In a court filing Monday in the case of Louisiana v. FDA, the DOJ claimed that Louisiana and abortion survivor Rosalie Markezich lack standing and are not suffering ongoing harm from the FDA’s policy allowing the drugs to be mailed without in-person medical oversight.
The department asked the federal district court to deny relief, noting that the FDA is reconsidering the restrictions on mifepristone based on all available evidence.
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The lawsuit, filed by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and Markezich, challenges the Biden administration’s 2023 changes that permitted mifepristone to be distributed via mail and telemedicine, bypassing requirements for in-person doctor visits and ultrasounds. Pro-life advocates argue the policy harms women, enables coercion, and undermines state laws, such as Louisiana’s prohibition on poisoning women with abortion drugs.
Markezich has shared her experience of coercion under the policy, which she says led to the death of her baby.
Peer-reviewed studies cited in pro-life critiques show that three-quarters of emergency room visits within 30 days of abortion drug use are coded as severe or critical, with more than 1 in 10 women experiencing at least one severe adverse event, including hemorrhaging, infection, sepsis, and death.
SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser condemned the DOJ’s stance, calling it a denial of justice that leaves women and children vulnerable.
“Today’s denial of justice by the DOJ is completely unacceptable. It slams the door on women like Rosalie Markezich and their babies, who are suffering very real harm as the Trump-Vance administration refuses to reimplement basic guardrails on deadly mail-order abortion drugs,” Dannenfelser said in a statement.
She added that abortion drugs accessible by mail are “killing more Americans than fentanyl, cocaine or heroin combined,” and urged immediate action rather than waiting for the FDA’s review.“
As abortions in America go up instead of down, women are coerced, poisoned and ending up in emergency rooms, and state laws are undermined, it is states like Louisiana that are leading the charge to stop the mail-order abortion drug crisis,” Dannenfelser said. “The Trump-Vance administration should be standing with Louisiana and supporting states in enforcing their pro-life laws against unscrupulous drug dealers, not holding onto Joe Biden’s disastrous Covid-era policies.”
Dannenfelser also criticized the timeline, noting that FDA Commissioner Marty Makary had not previously provided a schedule for the promised safety study, but the DOJ now indicates it could take “a year or more to conduct.”
“Now we are told it will be at least 2027 – well after midterms. That is unacceptable,” she said. “But this study also should not substitute for plain common sense: Deadly abortion drugs do not belong in the mail with no in-person doctor visit, no ultrasound, no meaningful medical oversight and no accountability.”
The DOJ’s request follows letters from 51 U.S. senators and 175 House Republicans demanding answers from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Makary on reinstating safeguards. In a response to Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Makary acknowledged that hundreds of women have required blood transfusions due to abortion drugs.
SBA Pro-Life America has called for Makary’s firing, and Kennedy has previously stated that the Biden FDA “twisted” data to downplay mifepristone’s risks.
Louisiana is among a growing number of pro-life states challenging the FDA policy, which they say erodes their ability to protect residents from the dangers of unregulated abortion drugs.
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