Washington State Attorney General Calls FDA Rules on Abortion Drugs Unreasonable

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said he is suing the Food and Drug Administration because restrictions on the use of mifepristone, an abortion drug, are “completely unreasonable and not medically necessary.”

Ferguson, who spoke to NPR Everything is taken into account on Saturday, is one of a dozen Democratic attorneys general who filed a lawsuit accusing a federal agency of over-regulating drugs.

Mifepristone is usually used in combination with misoprostol to terminate a pregnancy in the first trimester. Ferguson says it’s one of 60 drugs — out of more than 20,000 FDA-approved drugs — that have additional restrictions that make it difficult to prescribe and dispense the drug.

Ferguson said that while the FDA hasn’t added any new drug restrictions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade’s ruling, repealing the right to abortion, options for Americans seeking safe abortion across the country have become limited.

Ferguson also said the lawsuit serves as a countermeasure to a case being heard by a Texas judge who could soon rule to end access to abortion pills nationwide.

“Plaintiffs in this case are asking this very conservative judge to issue a national injunction, stating that mifepristone should not be available to anyone in the United States,” Ferguson told NPR’s Michel Martin. “We therefore believe that while this case is ongoing, we have filed a case that takes the opposite position: in fact, mifepristone should be expanded in terms of its access.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview Highlights

Why the Coalition of Attorneys General is suing now

Ever since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, my team has been looking for ways to improve the reproductive opportunities of my state’s residents.

It became clear to us that the FDA was restricting access to this drug in a way that we considered completely unreasonable and not medically necessary, and therefore we are filing this lawsuit to increase the availability of this important drug. for residents of my state and other states that have joined our lawsuit.

On what makes these additional restrictions on mifepristone burdensome

To give you an example, pharmacies must be specifically certified to provide this medicine. We filed this lawsuit in eastern Washington. For example, Washington State University, the pharmacy on campus is not certified to provide this drug because it is a hassle for them. Administratively difficult. Why are we putting these pharmacies through this onerous process to get a drug that is perfectly safe and literally safer than Tylenol? It makes no medical sense.

Study after study shows that this medicine is safe. Obviously, everything you put into your body inherently carries some risk. There is evidence that this medication is as safe or safer than using Viagra. Viagra does not have these restrictions. Why do they have it for a product that women will use?

Why are they filing this lawsuit?

In my ten years as Attorney General, I filed about 110 lawsuits against presidential administrations, both Democratic and Republican presidents. In my opinion, I lost exactly three cases in them. Therefore, I am not suing anyone, especially the administration, the president, unless I am sure that we are right under the law and that the rights of the people of my state are very much at stake. That is the case in this situation, and therefore we are confident that she will win.

About the purpose of the claim

If we succeed in at least those dozen or so states, access to mifepristone will still be available, even if this judge in Texas issues an opinion that tries to get a national injunction barring people in this country from accessing mifepristone. . Again, attacks on women’s reproductive freedoms continue after Dobbs, and this is the most extreme example.

Gurjit Kaur and Miranda Kennedy of NPR produced and edited this story for broadcast.

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