Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill is fighting a move by the U.S. Department of Justice to pause a lawsuit regarding mail-order abortion medication.
On Jan. 27, the DOJ filed a motion asking a federal court to pause Louisiana’s lawsuit that challenges the deregulation of abortion pills. The DOJ says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration already is conducting a review of the matter.
Murrill took to social media to blast the DOJ.
“That is an affront to our sovereignty and the dignity of women and the unborn,” Murrill posted Jan. 28 on X. “US FDA admits that the REMS (Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy) is flawed but claims that Louisiana can’t sue to stop the 1,000 dangerous abortions a month in Louisiana that the REMS allows. … FDA should stand with us for life, not with” California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Louisiana, led by Murrill, filed the lawsuit last year challenging the 2023 deregulation of mifepristone, which is used in chemical abortions. The 2023 rule allows the drugs to be delivered through the mail and prescribed without the patient making any visits to a doctor.
The state filed the lawsuit after residents — including Rosalie Markezich — said they were coerced into taking abortion pills obtained through the mail. Markezich says her boyfriend made her to take the medication.
Louisiana law prohibits most abortions, but some residents have received the drugs from out-of-state suppliers.
Murrill’s lawsuit takes issue with the REMS’ in-person dispensing requirements for mifepristone. Currently, the medication can be prescribed via telehealth.
According to the complaint, mifepristone is a synthetic steroid and endocrine disruptor that blocks progesterone receptors in the uterus. Progesterone is necessary to maintain a pregnancy and support a growing baby. By blocking progesterone receptors, mifepristone causes the uterine lining to deteriorate, starving the baby of oxygen and nutrition and eventually killing the baby.
Mifepristone is typically administered as part of a two-drug regimen involving a second drug called misoprostol. Mifepristone is first introduced, killing the baby. Then misoprostol is introduced, which induces contractions to expel the baby from her mother’s womb.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization placed authority over abortion laws with individual states.
Many states have since outlawed abortion, but abortion pills such as mifepristone, which are taken to induce chemical abortions, are being shipped into states illegally, Murrill alleges.
“Shortly after Dobbs, pro-abortion activists and doctors launched a nationwide effort to effectuate abortions in pro-life states like Louisiana – all without setting foot in those states. How? By mail,” Louisiana’s complaint states.
“Every year, doctors and activists in states like California and New York mail a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved abortion drug called mifepristone to thousands of Louisiana residents for the express purpose of causing abortions in Louisiana that are blatantly unlawful.”
In its filing, the DOJ says the FDA began its review of the rule changes in September. It says Murrill’s lawsuit would “short circuit the agency’s orderly review and study of the safety risks of mifepristone.” It goes on to say Louisiana’s request “may prove as unnecessary as it is disruptive.”
