The Trump Department of Justice (DOJ) asked a judge Monday to reject three Republican states’ efforts to restrict access to the abortion pill.
Continuing for now a position staked out by the Biden administration, the Trump DOJ urged the District Court for the Northern District of Texas to dismiss renewed challenges brought by Missouri, Kansas and Idaho, arguing the case should not be filed in that venue.
The three states do not dispute that their claims “have no connection to the Northern District of Texas and that, if the States were to file their own suit in this District, that suit could not proceed due to improper venue,” the filing states.
“To justify continued litigation here, the States instead rely on the original plaintiffs’ lawsuit seeking to challenge FDA’s actions,” the DOJ wrote. “But the Supreme Court unanimously concluded that those plaintiffs lacked standing, and they have now voluntarily dismissed all of their claims.”
The Supreme Court ruled in June 2024 that the doctors and pro-life medical associations that brought the initial challenge did not have standing.
The Biden administration previously argued that the states’ case should be dismissed or transferred to another venue. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk allowed the states to move forward with their effort in January.
While states argued Food and Drug Administration regulations have allowed individuals to evade their pro-life laws, the DOJ wrote Monday that “the mere fact that someone might violate state law ‘does not by itself injure the government.’”
“At bottom, 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 DOJ filing states, noting the states are “free to pursue their claims in a District where venue is proper.”
A study released late April by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) revealed adverse events associated with mifepristone abortions were “at least 22 times as high as the summary figure reported on the drug label.” Nearly one in ten women who use the pill experience a “serious adverse event” within 45 days, according to the study.
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