Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill is thanking her fellow Republican attorneys general and 60 U.S. lawmakers for filing amicus briefs in support of her lawsuit against the FDA to vacate a Biden-era rule that removed a longstanding in-person dispensing requirement for the chemical abortion drug mifepristone.
The lawsuit was filed in December in U.S. District Court of the Western District of Louisiana.
Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers led 21 states in filing a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the lawsuit challenging a Biden-era rule that expanded access to abortion drugs through mail and telehealth, despite contrary state laws. Nebraska’s filing argues that the rule unlawfully overrides state laws protecting unborn life and intrudes on states’ sovereign authority following the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs.
In addition, U.S. Sen. Dr. Bill Cassidy (who also is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee) and U.S. Rep. Chris Smith led 58 Republican lawmakers in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Western District of Louisiana supporting Murrill’s lawsuit to protect women and their unborn children from dangerous chemical abortion drugs. The brief argues mifepristone’s in-person dispensing requirement must be reinstated.
“I’d like to thank my fellow attorneys general and Republican members of Congress for supporting our lawsuit against the FDA,” Murrill said. “This matter has immediate dangerous consequences for women and the unborn in our state.
“Abortions have tragically increased in Louisiana and other pro-life states because of the withdrawal of in-person dispensing requirements. Behind the statistics is a woman abandoned by an irresponsible doctor who dispensed these drugs without any medical oversight and a baby whose life will be terminated.
“These drugs have a ‘Black Box Warning,’ and these leaders recognize the dangers of this politically driven Biden-era rules. The FDA should withdraw this rule now for the health and safety of women and the unborn.”
Multiple other organizations, pro-life groups, and individuals also filed friend-of-the-court briefs in this case.
On February 24, Louisiana will be in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in front of the Honorable David Joseph, where he will hear arguments on our motion to stay the 2023 REMS.
Joining Nebraska on their brief were the Attorneys General from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
