Trump administration seeks to have states’ mifepristone lawsuit dismissed

The Trump administration has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by three states seeking to restrict access to mifepristone, a pill used both for early abortions and for miscarriage care — a position that mirrors the Biden administration’s approach to the issue.

In a May 5 filing with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Amarillo, the Justice Department argued that Idaho, Kansas and Missouri failed to satisfy the court’s venue requirements for bringing the action.

The states intervened as plaintiffs in a legal battle over mifepristone, a drug used both for early first trimester abortion as well as some miscarriage care protocols, that saw the Supreme Court unanimously decide to dismiss the case. A coalition of pro-life opponents of mifepristone had challenged the Food and Drug Administration’s relaxation of some regulations surrounding the drug, such as eliminating the requirement for initial in-person medical visits and making it available by mail.

In its June 2024 decision, the Supreme Court held that the pro-life coalition had lacked standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, which requires plaintiffs to demonstrate actual injury, clear causation and the merits of the relief requested in addressing the injury.

But in January, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk allowed Idaho, Kansas and Missouri, as intervenor plaintiffs, to file an amended complaint on the matter in his Amarillo court.

The Trump administration said in its filing today that the states essentially “argue that they can piggyback” on the venue for the original plaintiffs, who “were held to lack standing and have now voluntarily dismissed their claims.”

A synthetic steroid, mifepristone — introduced 20 years ago — works by blocking the hormone progesterone, which is necessary for pregnancy to continue. When used in combination with misoprostol, which causes contractions, it induces a “medication abortion” up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy. This regimen is now used for more than half of U.S. abortions, according to the abortion research firm Guttmacher Institute.

However, mifepristone pills are also now prescribed to women who experience early pregnancy miscarriage in order to more effectively expel any fetal remains and residual pregnancy tissue from the womb and reduce the need for surgical removal. While misoprostol has been prescribed alone by OB-GYNs, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in recent years updated its protocols to recommend a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol as more effective than misoprostol alone for early miscarriage care based on research published since 2018.

According to the National Library of Medicine, an estimated 26 percent of all pregnancies, and up to 10% of clinically recognized pregnancies, end in miscarriage, the loss of pregnancy less than 20-weeks gestation.

Because the Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred and must be respected from conception to natural death, it opposes the use of medicine when it is intended to cause direct abortion, which takes the life of the unborn child. However, the church also does not oppose the use of medicine when it is intended for restoring the body to health or life, which it calls “precious gifts entrusted to us by God.”

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