The State of Louisiana v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Description:  When the Biden administration removed the safeguard of in-person dispensing for the abortion drug mifepristone, it intentionally opened the door for out-of-state pro-abortion activists and doctors to mail streams of high-risk abortion drugs into pro-life states. Louisiana, which has chosen to protect the lives of unborn babies, and Rosalie Markezich, a Louisiana woman coerced into taking abortion drugs that her boyfriend obtained via mail from a doctor in California, are suing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for unlawfully approving this reckless mail-order abortion-drug scheme.

LAFAYETTE, La. – The state of Louisiana, together with attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom, filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for enabling pro-abortion activists and doctors to mail streams of high-risk abortion drugs into states that protect the lives of unborn babies.

Louisiana resident Rosalie Markezich also joined the suit. In October 2023, under immense pressure and fearing for her safety, she took abortion drugs that her boyfriend obtained via mail from a doctor in California. Rosalie’s attorneys explain that she did not want an abortion, but far from empowering her to make her own choice and preserve her autonomy, the mail-order drugs left her feeling trapped and coerced.

In 2023, the Biden administration directed the FDA to permanently remove the in-person dispensing requirement from its Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy for the abortion drug mifepristone. This action opened the door for out-of-state pro-abortion activists and doctors to blanket states like Louisiana, which has chosen to protect unborn children, with mail-order abortion drugs, thus evading state laws and putting unborn babies and women at serious risk.

“Out-of-state abortion drug peddlers are violating the criminal laws of Louisiana and other states across the country that choose life. They aren’t providing healthcare, they’re drug dealers,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said. “Louisiana’s new lawsuit seeks to hold the FDA accountable for unlawfully removing its original safeguard that ensured women receive an in-person office visit to check for life-threatening conditions, such as ectopic pregnancy, before taking high-risk abortion drugs. The FDA’s reckless actions also opened wide the door for women to suffer reproductive coercion and assault. We are simply asking the FDA to restore this basic safety standard for women’s health. Rosalie is bravely representing many woman who are victimized by the illegal, immoral, and unethical conduct of these drug dealers. I look forward to standing with her and the women of Louisiana as this case moves forward.”

“Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, President Biden ordered his administration to conceive of every possible way to keep abortion available in states that choose life. What they came up with was mail-order abortion drugs: a reckless political action that destroys unborn life, puts women’s safety in serious jeopardy, and completely subverts state law,” said ADF Senior Counsel Erin Hawley, vice president of the ADF Center for Life and Regulatory Practice. “ADF is honored to partner with the state of Louisiana and Rosalie in challenging this unlawful abortion-drug scheme and advocating for the protection and dignity of every woman and child.”

“If the Biden FDA had not removed in-person dispensing, my then-boyfriend would not have been able to obtain abortion drugs and pressure me to take them against my will,” Rosalie said.

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe and “return[ed] the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” allowing citizens and their elected representatives to enact and enforce laws based on their belief that abortion ends the life of a human being.

Louisiana was one such state. But the Biden administration’s FDA attempted to override the people’s choice—and undermine the court’s ruling in Dobbs—by permanently eliminating the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, thus authorizing mail-order abortions throughout the country.

For instance, every year, doctors like Margaret Carpenter in New York mail mifepristone to thousands of Louisiana residents for the express purpose of causing abortions that are blatantly unlawful. The pro-abortion Society of Family Planning’s 2024 #WeCount report states that, from April to June 2024, mail-order abortion drugs—sent into Louisiana from out-of-state doctors—accounted for an average of 617 abortions in Louisiana per month. In December, that number was even higher: 800 abortions.

“That’s 800 unborn lives taken in just one month, in a state that has specifically chosen to protect life—all because of the Biden FDA’s unlawful approval of mail-order abortion drugs,” Hawley added. “Abortion-by-mail is not health care; it’s the opposite, leaving women to face serious medical risks alone for the sake of an ideological agenda.”

Removing the only in-person visit makes already high-risk abortion drugs even riskier for women. It even makes it more difficult to identify reproductive coercion and assault because ill-intentioned individuals can now obtain these drugs without a woman’s knowledge or consent. These injuries are the result of regulatory actions that the FDA itself admits were unsupported by the available scientific evidence.

The State of Louisiana v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Lafayette Division.

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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