Texas AG sues Biden administration over abortion pills

The federal government shouldn’t be able to overrule pro-life state laws to force pharmacies to provide abortion pills, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandated in July last year that pharmacies had to provide pills that could be used for abortions. If a pharmacy fails to provide the pills, it risks having its Medicaid and Medicare funding revoked. Paxton filed a suit against the HHS on Tuesday, arguing that their mandate misinterprets federal law.

What’s Paxton’s reasoning? In the complaint, Paxton said the mandate violated the Affordable Care Act. HHS’s Pharmacy Mandate cited the ACA when saying pharmacies cannot discriminate against pregnant women. Paxton quoted a passage in the ACA stipulating that the ACA does not overrule any state laws regarding abortion. Currently, Texas law protects babies except to save the life of the mother or protect her from serious bodily injury. 

Dig deeper: Read Katelyn Walls Shelton’s column in World Opinions on abortion pills and women’s safety.