Lawsuit seeks to overturn FDA approval of medicated abortion pills

Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Anti-abortion medical groups filed a lawsuit on Friday against the Food and Drug Administration, seeking to overturn the government's approval of abortion-inducing drugs.

The lawsuit, filed by the Alliance for Defending Freedom, argues that the FDA illegally fast-tracked the approval of mifepristone, a pill used in medicated abortions. The group argues that the agency failed to protect the health and safety and welfare of girls and women and never studied whether the drugs were safe.

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration chose politics over science when it pushed for the legalization of the chemical abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol in 2000," the group said. "But pregnancy is not an illness, nor do chemical abortion drugs provide a therapeutic benefit over surgical abortion. In asserting these transparently false conclusions, the FDA exceeded its regulatory authority to approve the drugs."

In 2020, medication abortion accounted for 54 percent of all pregnancy terminations in the U.S. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, more women have been turning to abortion pills.

Research has shown the process is safe and effective, and the agency has put certain guardrails in place to ensure the drug's safety.

The FDA in recent years has taken some steps to ease access to the drugs, though abortion advocates say there are still too many barriers in place.