Democrats sue to end unnecessary FDA restrictions on medication abortion

Twelve states led by Democrats are taking on the Food and Drug Administration over its unnecessarily harsh restricts on mifepristone, one of two drugs used for medication abortion. The suit is intended both to make the drug more accessible and to counter the expected injunction on the use of the drug that a district judge in Texas will hand down soon.

The suit is spearheaded by Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson. In January, the FDA updated the risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) for mifepristone to life the requirement that patients pick the medicine up in person from a pharmacy, making it simpler for pharmacies to fill the prescriptions online and through the mail. But the FDA kept a requirement under REMS that forces prescribers to obtain specific certifications, and requires extensive documentation that the AGs say could endanger both providers and patients.

The paper trail “puts both patients and providers in danger of violence, harassment, and threats of liability amid the growing criminalization and outlawing of abortion in other states,” the complaint states. That paperwork puts an unnecessary burden on healthcare providers and on patients, the AGs say in the suit.