LAFAYETTE — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill faced off in federal court in Lafayette Tuesday morning as a lawsuit over access to abortion pills continues to test the intersection of state and federal law.
U.S. District Judge Joseph presided over the roughly 90-minute hearing, closely questioning both sides as he weighed arguments over whether mail-order access to abortion medications is unlawful in the state of Louisiana.
The lawsuit, filed by the state in October, seeks to restrict mail-order access to mifepristone, a medication used in medication abortions and to treat miscarriages.
State attorneys argue the case is not about the drug itself but about federal rules that removed in-person dispensing requirements.
“This is not about the mifepristone pill itself. It’s about the removal of in-person dispensing requirements that the Biden administration effectuated by rule,” Atty. Gen. Murrill said following the hearing.
The judge pressed attorneys on whether banning mail-order access would curb demand, at one point comparing the issue to the “war on drugs” and questioning whether making the pills illegal in the state would significantly change their availability.
State attorneys argued the federal rule change has harmed Louisiana.
“We think that this rule is directly causing some of the harms to our state and facilitating the illegal distribution of pills here—and it’s harming women and it’s killing babies,” Murrill added in her post-hearing statements.
Seven similar cases involving abortion pill access are pending at the federal level.
After the hearing, Murrill voiced frustration with the FDA’s decision to remove the in-person requirement.
“There was absolutely no reason why the FDA should have ever removed that requirement,” Murrill said. “They did it expressly to facilitate the distribution of these drugs because they wanted to allow other states and doctors and other providers who did not agree with our legal policies to be able to nullify our laws and send those pills here illegally.”
Defense attorneys argued that restricting access to the pills would disproportionately affect underserved communities, including patients who rely on telehealth services or who face barriers to in-person care.
With the FDA already conducting a review related to the medication, the defense has filed a motion to stay the case, which would pause litigation until that evaluation is complete.
Murrill also said the state may pursue additional legal action against governors in states that have enacted “shield laws” protecting reproductive health care providers who assist out-of-state patients seeking abortions.
“We may proceed in federal court against the governors of those states that are blocking our extradition paperwork,” she said.
The FDA declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Murrill said she expects a ruling from the court within the next several weeks.
