Republican Senators File Amicus Brief Challenging FDA Mifepristone Regulations

U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) joined Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and 57 of their Republican colleagues in filing an amicus brief in support of Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill's lawsuit, Louisiana v. FDA, to protect women and their unborn children nationwide from dangerous chemical abortion drugs, including mifepristone. The brief argues the Biden administration violated federal law by removing mifepristone's in-person dispensing requirement and that these protections must be reinstated.

This amicus brief is being led in the Senate by U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. It is endorsed by Alliance Defending Freedom, SBA Pro-Life, and National Right to Life.

The lawmakers wrote: "Congress specifically prohibited the mailing of '[e]very article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion.' 18 U.S.C. § 1461. By deregulating chemical abortion drugs and permitting them to be sent through the mail, the Biden FDA violated that longstanding federal law."

"The Biden FDA did not have a sufficient evidentiary basis to conclude that eliminating the in-person dispensing requirement was safe. And because no in-person visit is required now, women cannot be meaningfully screened for serious contraindications for the use of this drug, such as ectopic pregnancy. It also increases the likelihood that some women are being coerced into taking these drugs against their will," the lawmakers continued.

"As delegated by Congress, the FDA's job is to ensure drug safety, not to encourage the risky use of drugs just to further former President Biden's pro-abortion agenda. Exceeding its mandate is illegal and also harmful, both to the separation of powers and to women taking mifepristone," they continued.