The Trump administration is asking a federal judge in Texas to dismiss a case that aims to restrict access to the abortion drug mifepristone.
The request continues the Biden administration’s position in defense of the drug: that Texas isn’t the proper venue for the lawsuit.
In a Justice Department court filing, the Trump administration said Idaho, Missouri and Kansas have no ties to Texas, where the lawsuit was filed, arguing they lack standing in the suit against the Food and Drug Administration over its rules over the pills, which are available online and by mail.
(AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)
“Aside from this litigation, the States do not dispute that their claims have no connection to the Northern District of Texas,” the DOJ wrote. “The states cannot keep alive a lawsuit in which the original plaintiffs were held to lack standing, those plaintiffs have now voluntarily dismissed their claims, and the States’ own claims have no connection to this District.”
The three Republican-led states are challenging FDA actions that loosened restrictions on the drug in 2016 and 2021, including allowing for medication abortions at up to 10 weeks of pregnancy instead of seven, and for mail delivery of the drug without a woman first seeing a clinician in-person, Reuters reported.
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Mifepristone, also known as RU-486, is a medication typically used in combination with misoprostol to bring about a medical abortion during pregnancy and manage early miscarriage. (Getty Images)
A lower court previously rebuffed a request to reverse FDA approval of mifepristone.
“The States are free to pursue their claims in a District where venue is proper,” the federal attorneys said. But the brief pointed to weaknesses in the states’ argument beyond standing, noting, for instance, that their challenge to the FDA’s 2016 action allowing the pills to be used up to 10 weeks of pregnancy rather than the previous seven is outside the statute of limitations.
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Last year, the Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by anti-abortion doctors and medical associations after the justices ruled the plaintiffs could not show they had been personally harmed by the federal government’s regulation of the pill.
The Trump administration also argued for the dismissal, saying the states’ challenge to FDA’s 2016 actions is outside the six-year statute of limitations.
Fox News Digital’s Melissa Rudy contributed to this report.