Women who say they experienced harm from abortion pill push Blanche to settle suit on FDA policy

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Ahead of an upcoming hearing on his nomination to lead the Department of Justice, a national pro-life group urged Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche to side with states challenging a federal policy permitting mifepristone, sometimes called the abortion pill, to be dispensed through the mail.

Blanche has been leading the department in an acting capacity since President Donald Trump removed Pam Bondi as head of the DOJ. Trump has since nominated Blanche to fill the role, but it requires Senate confirmation.

Meanwhile, pro-life groups have objected to court filings by the DOJ asking courts to dismiss or pause state lawsuits to roll back the Biden administration’s eased restrictions on mifepristone. The Trump administration has thus far left that regulation in effect while the DOJ has sought to block those challenges, notably Louisiana’s pending a promised safety review by the Food and Drug Administration, prompting frustration from pro-life advocates. The status and timeline of the FDA review are unclear.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, alongside Rosalie Markezich, who said she was coerced into taking abortifacient drugs by her then-boyfriend, previously sued the FDA over the policy permitting mifepristone to be distributed by mail, alleging that policy enabled Markezich’s former partner to acquire the drug and then coerce her into taking it. Similar lawsuits have been filed by other states alleging the mail-order policy violates their own state restrictions on abortion.

In a July 8 letter to Blanche from women who say they were harmed by abortion drugs, signatories wrote, “We grieve with Rosalie because many of us recognize parts of our own stories in hers: the pressure, the confusion, the fear, the absence of real medical care, and the feeling that the system was designed to move drugs faster than it was designed to protect women. No woman should be forced, pressured, deceived, or abandoned into taking drugs that end her child’s life and place her own health at risk.”

“Rosalie’s courage should not be met with delay, dismissal, or continued litigation that leaves the same dangerous mail-order system in place. It should be met with action,” they wrote.

“Settling this case,” they continued, “would send a clear message that women’s safety matters, that coercion is real, that state laws protecting women and unborn children deserve respect, and that the DOJ will not ignore the real-world consequences of weakened abortion-drug safeguards.”

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, the group that organized the letter, said in a statement, “These are inherently dangerous drugs that do not belong where they can easily get into the hands of abusers.”

“The courage of these women, increasingly coming forward to share their very personal suffering and advocate to spare others the same terrible trauma, cannot be understated,” Dannenfelser said. “Common sense tells us they should not have to wait months or more for justice and change from this administration. Again we implore Acting AG Blanche as the Senate weighs his nomination: please, listen to the survivors and settle the case without further delay.”

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 that efforts 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, the same drug combination of mifepristone and misoprostol has sometimes been used in some protocols for miscarriage care, where an unborn child has already passed. Catholic teaching would hold that case as a morally licit use as opposed to abortion. The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, and as such, opposes direct abortion.

Blanche’s path to Senate confirmation may face other hurdles. With no Democrats expected to support his nomination, he would need the support of every Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee to advance to the full Senate.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., a member of the Judiciary Committee, has indicated he wants to know what Blanche’s plan is for the mifepristone lawsuits as he considers the nomination.

But Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is seen as a crucial vote for Blanche’s nomination to clear the Senate Judiciary Committee. Tillis, who will leave the Senate at the end of his current term, has previously stated he will not support Justice Department nominees he views as sympathetic to those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.

Tillis was also among the senators on both sides of the aisle who strongly objected to the Trump administration’s attempt to secure a controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund,” which Blanche supported.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing on Blanche’s nomination for July 15.

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