Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office has filed a motion with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to halt a Biden-era rule that removed a longstanding in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion drug mifepristone.
The motion asks the court to issue a stay or injunction pending appeal as the legal challenge moves forward.
“I have asked the Fifth Circuit to stay the Biden Administration’s unlawful removal of the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone,” Murrill said. “As the district court concluded, Louisiana is likely to win this case and is suffering irreparable harm.
“Louisiana will always stand for life.”
Earlier this month, a federal judge refused to block filling prescriptions for an abortion drug by mail. But U.S. District Judge David Joseph did rule the state is likely to succeed on the merits of its claims. The state argues that federal agencies acted unlawfully in loosening safety restrictions governing the distribution of mifepristone.
Murrill said the state is seeking immediate relief to prevent further harm while the appellate court considers the case. According to recent data, mifepristone is being used to kill approximately 1,000 unborn Louisiana children each month, with doctors in states like New York and California prescribing and mailing the drug into pro-life states like Louisiana, where abortion is restricted or prohibited.
Murrill wants the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules allowing mifepristone to be mailed even to states where abortion is banned be halted while a challenge to those 2023 regulations is litigated. Joseph did temporarily put the case on hold, but he the pause isn’t indefinite. He also said he still could rule in favor of Louisiana.
Joseph also said he would follow a pending FDA study of the drug, and he said he’s asked told the FDA to update him about its probe within six months.
“Should the agency fail to complete its review and make any necessary revisions … within a reasonable time frame, the court’s analysis – and the weight accorded to these factors – will inevitably change,” Joseph wrote, also saying he believes Louisiana is likely to succeed on the merits of its case.
Murrill says allowing the prescriptions to be filled by mail undermines the abortion ban in Louisiana, which is one of 13 states that bar it at all stages of pregnancy.
“Judge Joseph concluded that Louisiana has standing to sue and is likely to succeed in showing that the 2023 REMS is unlawful,” Murrill said in a statement earlier this month. “He also concluded that Louisiana suffers irreparable harm every day that the 2023 REMS remains in effect.
“Accordingly, under binding 5th Circuit precedent, the only thing left to do is vacate the 2023 REMS pending the outcome of this litigation. We will ask the 5th Circuit to do so.”
