Pro-life groups urge DOJ to stop opposing state abortion pill lawsuits

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — A coalition of 78 pro-life groups sent a letter to acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche urging the Department of Justice to stop asking courts to dismiss or pause state lawsuits to roll back the Biden administration’s eased restrictions on mifepristone.

The effort comes shortly after President Donald Trump removed Pam Bondi from the role of attorney general, selecting Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting attorney general. A permanent replacement for the position requires Senate confirmation.

Pro-life leaders indicated they hope the leadership change will result in a change in strategy at the DOJ on mifepristone.

In an April 13 letter to Blanche, the signatories urged him to “use your new position to reverse the DOJ’s harmful stance of siding with the abortion drug industry.”

“You have the opportunity instead to stand with pro-life Republican Attorneys General who are suing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to protect their citizens from the harms of abortion drugs and to stop FDA policies that undermine our state laws,” the letter said.

Previously, the Trump administration asked multiple judges to pause state lawsuits seeking to roll back Biden administration-era eased restrictions on mifepristone, a drug commonly used for first trimester abortion, but which is also used in some miscarriage care protocols. The Trump administration has thus far left that regulation in effect while seeking to block challenges to it pending a promised FDA safety review, prompting frustration from pro-life advocates.

The state lawsuits — notably from Louisiana, Missouri and Florida — seek to end the FDA policy implemented during the Biden administration permitting mifepristone to be distributed by mail. The states have argued the policy undermines their own state laws, among other objections.

Earlier in April, a federal judge agreed to the Justice Department’s request and paused Louisiana’s lawsuit, but indicated the state could potentially continue its challenge after the FDA concludes its safety review.

However, the status and timeline of the FDA review are unclear.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America; Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life Action; and Tim Chapman, president of Advancing American Freedom, a political advocacy group launched by former Vice President Mike Pence, were among the many signatories on the letter.

Dannenfelser, who is Catholic, said in an April 13 statement, “The DOJ has the opportunity to stand with states seeking to uphold their laws and protect women and unborn children from the dangers of unregulated abortion drugs by mail.”

“Instead, the DOJ is actively siding with the abortion industry and trying to wave away states’ valid claims,” Dannenfelser said.

She argued that the “DOJ and FDA have the authority and the duty to act immediately,” and that it would be politically supported by American voters.

The FDA under the second Trump administration also recently approved a new generic for mifepristone, commonly known as the “abortion pill,” an action that frustrated pro-life leaders. The first Trump administration also approved the drug’s first generic version.

Approved by the FDA for early abortion in 2000, mifepristone — the first of two drugs used in a chemical, sometimes called medication abortion — gained the moniker “the abortion pill.”

The drug’s manufacturers and its proponents argue that mifepristone is statistically safe for a woman to take, and attempts to restrict it are an attempt to ban abortion outright. Opponents of the drug itself, or its use for abortion, argue there are significant risks to those who take it, particularly outside of medical settings, in addition to ending the life of an unborn child early in its development.

However, in recent years, the same drug combination of mifepristone and misoprostol has become used in some protocols for miscarriage care, where an unborn child has already passed. That particular case Catholic teaching would hold as a morally licit use as opposed to abortion, which intentionally takes the life of an unborn child and so violates the Church’s teaching on the sacredness of all human life from conception to natural death.

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