Kansas and Idaho have joined Missouri in suing the Biden administration.
On Monday, Missouri’s attorney general stated that his office is suing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Health and Senior Services for illegally approving the mailing of chemical abortion pills.
Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s suit, which was joined by the states of Idaho and Kansas, follows his efforts earlier this year in notifying CVS and Walgreens that their plan to deliver abortion drugs through the mail would violate state and federal laws.
Leading the charge was Republican state attorneys general Bailey, who declared in February that his office would employ “every tool at our disposal to uphold the law.” Twenty of them supported the campaign.
“Unelected federal bureaucrats do not have the statutory authority to approve the shipment of these dangerous chemical abortion drugs in the mail,” Bailey stated. “The FDA’s recommendations would endanger the lives of expectant mothers and their unborn children in addition to being illegal. I take great pride in spearheading a coalition of states that effectively stops the FDA’s unlawful federal overreach.”
In the case, Bailey claims that the FDA’s “statutory responsibility” is to safeguard each American’s health, safety, and welfare, including by refusing or restricting the use of harmful medications.
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According to the attorney general, the FDA—which is part of the Biden administration—has fallen short on that duty.
“Specifically, it failed America’s women and girls when it chose politics over science and approved risky, untested chemical abortion drugs for use in the United States,” according to the lawsuit. “And, it has continued to fail them by turning a blind eye to these harms and repeatedly removing even the most basic precautionary requirements associated with the use of these risky drugs.”
Walgreens and CVS first announced their intention to mail abortion pills after the Biden administration announced a plan over a year ago in early January to change a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rule to allow companies like Walgreens and CVS to apply for certification to distribute a two-step abortion-inducing drug.
Previously, mifepristone, the first pill used in the two-part abortion procedure, could only be dispensed by certain mail-order pharmacies or by approved doctors or clinics.
The FDA’s approval would allow pharmacists to deliver the pill directly to patients after getting a prescription from a qualified physician.
However, the attorney generals caution that the modification is an inaccurate interpretation of the law and would not be upheld in court.
The attorney generals said in February that they rejected the Biden administration’s “bizarre interpretation” and that they anticipate the courts to do the same.
“Courts do not casually disregard the plain text of statutes.” “In addition, the Supreme Court has been openly hostile to other attempts by the Biden administration to advance antitextual arguments,” they said. “A future Attorney General of the United States will almost certainly reject the Biden administration’s results-driven, strained reading.” And the implications of embracing the Biden administration’s interpretation may come far sooner.”
