Attorney General Steve Marshall Condemns the FDA’s “Illegal and Dangerous” Decision to Abandon Restrictions on Abortion-Inducing Drugs
Attorney General Steve Marshall recently led a coalition of 22 state attorneys general in sending a letter to the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Robert Califf, condemning the FDA’s recent decision to abandon its longstanding restrictions on the remote prescription and administration of abortion-inducing drugs.
“The Food and Drug Administration’s decision to abandon commonsense restrictions on remotely prescribing and administering abortion-inducing drugs is both illegal and dangerous,” the attorney generals wrote in the letter. “In direct contravention of longstanding FDA practice and congressional mandate, the FDA’s rollback of important safety restrictions ignores both women’s health and straightforward federal statutes. We urge you to reverse your decision.”
“The authority to regulate abortion lies with the people and their elected representatives,” the attorneys general continue. “In our states, we prioritize the health and safety of women and children and our laws reflect this. And in many states, including Alabama, elective abortion is illegal. . . . Our States will not yield to the Administration’s radical pro-abortion policies.”
The letter details the serious risks associated with abortion-inducing drugs, which both state and federal laws and policies—including, until now, those of the FDA itself—have long recognized by imposing restrictions on their prescription and administration. But, in the wake of the Dobbs decision, “the FDA announced a wholesale change to [its policy aimed at mitigating the dangers of such drugs].” The FDA’s new policy is denounced by the attorneys general in no uncertain terms for “prioritizing . . . pro-abortion policy over women’s health,” which recklessly “endanger[s] the lives of women” in addition to “enthusiastically endanger[ing] the lives of unborn children.”
“Though the FDA has abdicated its responsibility to protect women’s health, we have not,” the attorneys general conclude their letter. “To be crystal clear, you have not negated any of our laws that forbid the remote prescription, administration, and use of abortion-inducing drugs. The health and safety of our citizens—women and children included—is of paramount concern. Nothing in the FDA’s recent changes affects how we will protect our people.”
Attorney General Marshall was joined in sending the letter by the attorneys general of the states of Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
In 2020, a number of the attorneys general of the same states, including Alabama, filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court in opposition to a similar policy change that was demanded during the coronavirus pandemic by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a far-left association of pro-abortion physicians. Through its recent decision, the FDA has now adopted the extreme position of ACOG as its own.
The full letter sent by the attorneys general can be viewed online here.