A Major Update in the Mifepristone Case

...and other stories you may have missed

Click to skip ahead: In the Courts, some major news in the legal attack on mifepristone. Stats & Studies has a handful of new research, including how mifepristone could reduce the risk of breast cancer. Attacks on Abortion Pills & Speech looks at the latest in Republican AG attacks. In the States, news from Texas, California, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and more. In the Nation, the latest on the attempts to ‘defund’ Planned Parenthood, and the Democratic response to the Costco news. In Better News, how pro-choice states like Illinois, Maryland, and New York are leading the way—and a pro-choice ‘CPC’ in Arkansas.

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In the Courts

A huge update this week in the ongoing legal attacks on abortion medication: Texas and Florida have moved to join a lawsuit targeting mifepristone, lending some much-needed firepower to the anti-abortion attack.

Originally brought by the Republican attorneys general of Kansas, Missouri, and Idaho, the suit claims that the FDA didn’t do their due diligence when approving access to mifepristone. Relying on some truly wild anti-abortion ‘science’—like claiming the drug “starves the baby to death in the womb”—the suit seeks to significantly roll back access to the medication, and ban the shipping of abortion pills altogether.

Abortion, Every Day published an in-depth explainer last year, if you’d like a refresher:

The GOP's Attack on Abortion Pills is Here

The suit against the FDA had been sort of puttering along, not doing much—in part because the AGs brought the suit forward in Texas, even though none of them were from Texas. (They filed it there to put the case in front of their favorite anti-abortion judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk.)

Then in May, the Trump administration asked the courts to dismiss the suit. Don’t get it twisted—they weren’t defending mifepristone! In fact, the administration was careful to say that they weren’t weighing in on whether the AGs’ wild claims about the medication were true. Instead, they argued that the states lacked standing to bring the suit in Texas.

That’s what makes this latest news so troubling: The Washington Post reports that on Friday, Texas and Florida asked to become plaintiffs in the case. If that happens, the argument that the suit has no connection to Texas would no longer apply—helping to move the attack along.

Oh, and the judge who gets to decide if the states can join the suit? You guessed it: Kacsmaryk. Now, the legal experts WaPo spoke to said it’s unclear how he might rule “given the Trump administration’s request for a dismissal, which could indicate a lack of interest in taking a stance on mifepristone access.” But it’s important to remember that Kacsmaryk really hates abortion—and is keen to be a part of ending it however he can.

Abortion, Every Day will have more on the suit this week, but I really recommend checking out that explainer if you want a detailed look at the truly bizarre arguments they’re pushing.

Stats & Studies

Whew. The data just keeps pouring in on just how harmful anti-abortion laws and propaganda are. The biggest bit of research news over the last few weeks is that mifepristone might reduce the risk of breast cancer—but anti-abortion stigma and attacks are holding up further, life-saving research.

Even though studies published in 2008, 2022, and 2024 all showed evidence that mifepristone can limit the impact of the progesterone hormone—which contributes to cell growth in breast cancer—the anti-abortion lobby has pharmaceutical companies hesitant to launch trials.

We already knew that abortion bans and stigma harm people’s health: in addition to patients being denied life-saving abortions, we’ve seen women denied medication to help manage miscarriages, and minors of “childbearing age” denied vital medication because they’re deemed abortifacients. But there’s something specifically and explicitly cruel about holding up cancer research and prevention.

It reminds me of when conservatives attacked the HPV vaccine for girls, claiming that it would make teens “promiscuous.” Just another reminder that they’d rather see us dead than free.

In other research news, we have some new data on who is using over-the-counter birth control pills. A study published a year after the medication’s approval found that about a third of those using the pills weren’t previously using any birth control, and that they’re more likely to be uninsured, underage, and live in rural areas.

By their own self-reporting, these patients are drawn to over-the-counter pills because they don’t require a doctor’s appointment or prescription. The study is an important reminder of who’s impacted most by the right’s escalating war on birth control.

A few other studies you might have missed:

• A new University of Illinois Chicago study reports that nearly half of all U.S. counties now lack OBGYNs—and, as you could probably guess, anti-abortion laws are compounding the crisis.

• The Debt Collective, which helped pay off $50,000 in abortion-related debt (a term that should not exist), has a new scholarly article on the history of abortion debt and the impact of current laws.

• Crucial new research highlights the importance of local and state policies that avoid punitive approaches to pregnant women who consume alcohol. (Especially important right now with pregnancy-related criminal charges on the rise—often related to alleged substance use.)

• Finally, you’ll want to read through Reproductive Equity Now’s guide to non-stigmatizing, accurate language on later abortion.

Attacks on Abortion Pills & Speech

The FDA suit isn’t the only attack on abortion pills we need to catch up on!

Texas AG Ken Paxton continues to run from the wreckage of his personal life by throwing his whole self into harassing abortion providers. Last week, Paxton sent cease and desist letters to Plan C Pills, Her Safe Harbor, and Dr. Remy Coeytaux—a California-based doctor recently targeted in a suit by Jonathan Mitchell.

Paxton accuses the organizations and physician of illegally shipping abortion pills into the state and, in Plan C’s case, facilitating the shipping of the medication. The letter threatens a civil suit against the groups for $100,000 “per violation” if they continue their work.

Debra Lynch, a nurse practitioner with Her Safe Harbor, told The Guardian that they have no plans to stop helping patients:

“None of our providers are primarily concerned with our own wellbeing or our own legal status. All the horrors that women are facing because of these ridiculous bans and restrictions outweigh anything that could possibly happen to us as providers, in terms of a fine or a lawsuit or even jail time, if it were to come to that.”

What’s interesting about these letters is that Paxton isn’t just invoking the Comstock Act (the 1873 zombie law that bans the shipping of ‘obscene’ materials), but is also targeting free speech. The Republican AG claims that Plan C Pills violated Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act by advertising that abortion pills are safe, citing a debunked study from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) that claims the medication is dangerous.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey used a similar argument last month when he sued Planned Parenthood. He claimed the organization was making false claims about abortion pills’ safety, and—like Paxton—cited the bullshit EPPC study.

It’s a slick way to attack free speech: insist you’re not quashing anyone’s First Amendment rights, but protecting women from dangerous abortion medication. (ಠ_ಠ)

Meanwhile, three U.S. senators are also using the same junk science to attack mifepristone: A few days ago, Steve Daines of Montana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and Jim Banks of Indiana, sent a letter to the DOJ requesting an investigation of abortion pill manufacturers for supposedly misrepresenting the safety of abortion pills.

The senators call the medication, which is coming up on 25 years of FDA approval, “a serious public-health failure that endangers countless American women.” (This, while their abortion bans kill women!)

Before we move on to the next section, one last bit of news on abortion speech: You may remember that last month, a federal judge blocked part of Tennessee’s so-called ‘abortion trafficking’ law—ruling that the ban on ‘recruiting’ minors to access abortion violated the First Amendment. Because, really, that language could mean anything. Is an aunt sending her niece the url to an out-of-state clinic considering “recruiting”? What about a billboard that tells teens how to order abortion pills online?

There’s a reason an appeals court blocked similar language about ‘recruiting’ in Idaho’s ‘anti-trafficking’ law last year.

Still, Tennessee Republicans really didn’t like the ruling: Bloomberg Law reports that state attorneys are appealing the decision, and want to fight out the abortion speech issue in court. We’ll be following this one closely.

In the States

We’ll also be keeping a close eye on Texas this week, where Republicans haven’t taken their foot off the gas for a single second all summer. Lawmakers have repackaged the incredibly dangerous SB 2880—first as SB 6, now as SB 7. The bill would allow citizens to sue anyone who manufactures, distributes, mails, or provides abortion pills for at least $100,000—and that’s just what the GOP admits the legislation would do.

SB 7 could also revive a century-old abortion ban and clear the way for the prosecution of abortion patients and criminalizing travel. Lots more on this tomorrow, but click here for background on just how dangerous this bill really is.

Also in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott just signed a law banning local governments from using tax dollars to fund abortion-related travel or logistical support. The law is a response to the Austin City Council’s approval of $400,000 in support for abortion-related costs last year.

Anti-abortion activists are celebrating the law as a sweeping victory, claiming that this support fund “[persuades] women to travel out of the state to seek abortions,” as if abortion-related travel is a frivolous luxury and not a financially debilitating necessity. It’s utterly twisted.

Like Texas, California has also been in the midst of an existential fight to redraw the state’s Congressional map. And Planned Parenthood is backing Gov. Gavin Newsom in the fight to add Democratic Congressional districts—warning that with additional seats, Republicans would push us toward a national abortion ban. As Planned Parenthood of California CEO Jodi Hicks put it, “You take away our freedoms, we’ll take away your seats.”

Some good news out of Ohio: Ever since a court paused the state’s 24-hour waiting period law, 80% of patients at the region's largest abortion provider can receive care within the same day they seek it—up from 6% before the law was paused. The Abortion Fund of Ohio celebrated this development as “revolutionary.”

And we love this: Mayday Health is running an advertising campaign at over 100 gas stations in rural West Virginia and Kentucky—reminding people that they can still get abortions despite state bans.

Executive director Liv Raisner said that with conservative states losing OBGYNs and reproductive healthcare clinics, “routine education and preventative reproductive health information is much harder to access through traditional medical channels.” That’s why they’re focusing on gas stations. Really, really smart.

Given the recent trend of Republican AGs suing reproductive health groups over supposed ‘deceptive’ advertising, I was also glad to see Raisner address potential legal backlash from Republican leaders. “If anyone wants to come after us, what they’re coming after is the First Amendment,” they said.

Quick hits:

• Idaho is already dealing with a massive OBGYN exodus, and ABC News reports that Medicaid cuts will make accessing care even harder;

• Virginia abortion funds are navigating a sharp uptick in both in and out-of-state abortion seekers—with limited funding;

• Reproductive justice organization Free & Just held a vigil in Georgia last week to commemorate the lives of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller;

• And at the same time that real women’s health organizations are having their funding slashed, Ohio is funneling about $20 million in grants to anti-abortion groups.

In the Nation

Some good news re: the Trump administration’s bullshit: Their latest effort to enforce the “defund” portion of the GOP’s disastrous budget law was blocked by the First Circuit Court last week. Still, Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill-Johnson maintained that “we know the fight isn’t over, and we are prepared to see it through.”

And Senate Democrats, led by Patty Murray, are fighting back against Costco for appearing to acquiesce to anti-abortion extremists and declining to sell the abortion pill. Murray went so far as to (rightfully!) call the activists pressuring Costco and other corporations “fanatics”:

“I refuse to stand by and allow far-right extremists to bully major corporations and dictate what medicine women can or cannot get access to… Mifepristone is safe and effective—we cannot live in a world where the availability of women’s health care whipsaws back and forth based on the whims of extremists who want to deny women access to basic health care.”

And in the last bit of national news, 17 Democratic attorneys general signed a letter to the FDA urging the removal of medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone. It’s unlikely Trump’s FDA will oblige, of course—but it’s nice to finally be reading a letter from AGs that isn’t demanding the jailing of abortion providers for a change!

In Better News

Let’s talk about a few pro-choice states modeling proactive ways forward:

Just in time for back-to-school, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker just signed two vital bills to protect and expand abortion access in the state. Through HB 3709, Illinois will join California, New York, and Massachusetts as the only states guaranteeing access to abortion pills in state university health centers. The law will take effect immediately. And HB 3637 protects abortion providers—including midwives and distributors—who send abortion pills out-of-state, even if the FDA revokes approval of mifepristone.

We love to see it!

We’ve reported before on how Maryland is making $25 million available for uninsured and underinsured abortion patients: The state is the first to use money collected from a surcharge on insurance plans sold under the Affordable Care Act to fund a Public Health Abortion Grant Program. KFF Health News dug into that move recently, looking into how Maryland could be a model for other blue states looking to follow suit.

Finally, two bits of great news from Abortion, Every Day’s home state of New York:

NYC Health + Hospitals—the public hospital and clinic system across the world’s biggest city—received $10.7 million from the state’s Abortion Access Program grant to support abortion care at its 11 hospitals over the next three years.

And in Ulster County, officials voted to approve $50,000 in legal defense fees for the county clerk being sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. You can read some background here, but this is the short version: Paxton is suing New York abortion provider Dr. Maggie Carpenter for shipping abortion pills into the state, and has been trying to file a summons in New York ordering her to appear in a Texas court. In keeping with New York’s shield laws, Acting County Clerk Taylor Bruck has twice rejected Paxton’s attempts—and now the Texas AG is coming after Bruck, too.

It’s a nightmare top to bottom, but I’m glad to see county leaders rallying around Bruck and doing the right thing.

“American voters, and to some extent the American media, don’t understand how many years the Republicans have been working in order to get us to this point…It took 50 years to overturn Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court will hear a case about gay marriage; my prediction is they will do to gay marriage what they did to abortion—they will send it back to the states.”

- Hillary Clinton

One more bit of good news—not from a pro-choice state: Mother Jones has a feature on an Arkansas-based, pro-choice “crisis pregnancy center.” The YOU Center has taken over the building that used to be an abortion clinic in Little Rock, and offers support for a full range of pregnancy options: parenting, adoption, or abortion. From reporter Laura C. Morel:

“Staff at the Center mail out emergency contraceptives and birth control to residents throughout the state. They keep a closet stocked with supplies like menstrual products, baby formula, and prenatal vitamins. The sonographer who worked at the Little Rock clinic for 20 years now offers free ultrasounds to date pregnancies.”

Couldn’t love this more.