A federal court of appeals last week ordered the FDA to reinstate stricter regulations governing the abortion drug Mifepristone.
In Alliance of Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, a group of doctors sued the FDA for failing to address safety issues with Mifepristone. The FDA had been systematically deregulating the drug for over 20 years. In 2016, the agency made sweeping changes to the protocol for dispensing Mifepristone, including increasing the maximum gestational age from 7 to 10 weeks, allowing non-physicians to prescribe the drug, changing the dosage of the abortion pill regimen – and eliminating the requirement to report non-fatal adverse events.
When the FDA allowed abortion drugs to be prescribed remotely and sent by mail in 2021, it alleged that Mifepristone was “safe” because there were no reports of adverse events.
However, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found that “thousands of women, and as many as hundreds of thousands, have experienced serious adverse effects as a result of taking the drug, and required surgery or emergency care to treat those effects.”
Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a prior ruling that permits the continued distribution of Mifepristone under the current minimal restrictions until the Supreme Court hears the case.
The best thing about last week’s ruling is the concurring opinion by Justice James Ho, a Trump nominee. Justice Ho contends that “it was unlawful for the FDA to approve mifepristone” under an expedited review process that is only for drugs that treat serious illnesses. He further argues that the FDA is violating the Comstock Act by permitting abortion drugs to be sent through the mail. The Comstock Act explicitly prohibits mailing any type of products intended to cause abortion.
Justice Ho proceeds to outlines the significance and history of conscience rights in American law, emphasizing that doctors experience injury from the destruction of unborn life. Courts have often intervened in cases where federal agency action threatens animal life – and he argues that “[T]his injury is likewise redressable by a court order holding unlawful and setting aside approval of that abortifacient drug.”
It is our prayer that the U.S. Supreme Court embraces Justice Ho’s reasoning when it reviews the FDA’s murderous scheme to facilitate the killing of innocent children. Tragically, it is still legal for women to obtain and ingest abortion drugs – and flush their babies down the toilet – in every state, even those with harsh penalties for brick and mortar abortionists.