A federal judge ruled in favor of West Virginia’s restrictions on medication abortion Thursday, dismissing part of a lawsuit brought by an abortion drug manufacturer earlier this year.
District Judge Robert Chambers rejected the manufacturer’s claim that the state’s near-total abortion ban, which took effect last September, conflicted with the US Food and Drug Administration’s regulation and approval of the drugs.
The ban “has limited when an abortion may be performed, without touching how medication abortion is to be performed,” Chambers said in his ruling. Subsequently, he wrote, the court “is compelled to find that federal regulation of medication abortion prescription does not conflict with severe state limitations on abortion.”
The lawsuit is one of many that were filed across the country in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling last summer that overturned federal abortion protections. Many Republican-led states have since moved to curb abortion rights – including outright bans of the procedure – and medication abortion has become a particularly acute flashpoint as it makes up a majority of abortions obtained in the US.
In January, GenBioPro – the manufacturer of a generic version of mifepristone – sued West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Putnam County prosecuting attorney Mark Sorsaia alleging that the state’s abortion ban and a 2021 measure prohibiting the prescription of abortion drugs via telemedicine violate the US Constitution’s Supremacy and Commerce clauses.
The company argued that the restrictions are preempted by federal law that gives the FDA the authority to regulate medication abortion and Congress the authority to regulate interstate commerce.
In response, both defendants moved to dismiss the case.
While the judge dismissed…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply