Louisiana judge pauses case challenging mail-order abortions

U.S. District Court Judge David Joseph on Tuesday afternoon refused to prohibit abortion groups from mailing abortion drugs to women across the country. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and lawyers from Alliance Defending Freedom last year sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over its policy to allow women to access abortion drugs through telehealth without ever seeing a medical provider in person. The plaintiffs argue the policy directly harms women and their babies, while circumventing state pro-life laws. Meanwhile, the Trump administration in January asked the judge to pause the case while federal officials conduct an investigation into the safety risks of the abortion drug mifepristone. In his ruling Tuesday Judge Joseph agreed to pause the case.

What else did the judge say? While Joseph said he would pause the case and allow mail-order abortions to continue for now, he also ordered the FDA to conduct its safety review with “deliberate speed.” He said the agency would need to update the court on its progress in six months. While the administration has long said it would examine the safety data surrounding the abortifacient, reports last year suggested that officials were slow-walking the study. Pro-life advocates have urged authorities to prioritize the issue as chemical abortions have become more common. In recent months, women have said the drug’s widespread availability is enabling abusers to force or coerce them into killing their babies.

The judge left open the possibility for the state to refile its request to prohibit abortion mail-order abortions after the FDA had completed its study. In a statement to Stateline News, Murrill said the judge concluded that Louisiana had standing to sue and that it is likely to succeed in showing that making abortion pills available by mail is unlawful.

Dig deeper: Read my report about a February hearing in the case and what both pro-life and pro-abortion groups have said about the challenge.