Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Description: By illegally approving chemical abortion drugs, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration failed to abide by its legal obligations to protect the health, safety, and welfare of girls and women. The FDA never studied the safety of the drugs under the labeled conditions of use, ignored the potential impacts of the hormone-blocking regimen on the developing bodies of adolescent girls, disregarded the substantial evidence that chemical abortion drugs cause more complications than surgical abortions, and eliminated necessary safeguards for pregnant girls and women who undergo this dangerous drug regimen.
ADF to court: Protect women, girls from dangerous chemical abortion drugs
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Erik Baptist following his arguments at a federal court hearing Wednesday in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a case in which four national medical associations and four doctors experienced in caring for pregnant and post-abortive women are suing the federal government for illegally approving chemical abortion drugs that harm women and girls:
“Today, we asked the court to put the health and wellbeing of women and girls first by undoing the harms that the FDA has caused by illegally approving dangerous chemical abortion drugs and removing necessary protections. The FDA’s approval of chemical abortion drugs over 20 years ago has always stood on shaky legal and moral ground, and after years of evading responsibility, it’s time for the government to do what it’s legally required to do: protect the health and safety of vulnerable women and girls. As we stated in court, the FDA never had the authority to approve these drugs and remove important safeguards, despite the substantial evidence of the harms women and girls who undergo this dangerous drug regimen could suffer.”
ADF attorneys representing the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Pediatricians, the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, and doctors Shaun Jester, Regina Frost-Clark, Tyler Johnson, and George Delgado filed suit in November 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division.
In 2000, the FDA approved the chemical abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol by characterizing pregnancy as an “illness” and arguing that these drugs provide a “meaningful therapeutic benefit.” As the medical groups and doctors explain in their lawsuit, by approving chemical abortion drugs, the FDA failed to abide by its legal obligations to protect the health, safety, and welfare of girls and women. The FDA never studied the safety of the drugs under the labeled conditions of use, ignored the potential impacts of the hormone-blocking regimen on the developing bodies of adolescent girls, disregarded the substantial evidence that chemical abortion drugs cause more complications than surgical abortions, and eliminated necessary safeguards for pregnant girls and women who undergo the dangerous regimen.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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ABOUT Erik Baptist
Erik Baptist serves as senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, focusing on administrative litigation and regulatory advocacy. Before joining ADF, he was a partner at Wiley Rein LLP—one of the largest law firms in Washington, D.C.—where he employed his expertise in administrative and environmental law to represent clients on litigation, regulatory, and enforcement matters. Prior to working at Wiley, Baptist served as a senior executive service appointee at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As the senior deputy general counsel and deputy assistant administrator, he directed EPA’s litigation, implemented groundbreaking rulemakings and policies, represented EPA and defended witnesses in response to congressional inquiries, and collectively helped oversee the work of more than 1,100 EPA lawyers, scientists, and staff. He earned his B.A. from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School. Baptist is an active member of the D.C. Bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and various federal courts of appeal.