Abortion Pill Case Intervention by Red States Gets OK From Judge

A federal judge is allowing a trio of conservative states to intervene in a lawsuit that could ultimately limit the availability of the abortion medication mifepristone, complicating an ongoing battle over reproductive rights playing out at the US Supreme Court.

US District Court for the Northern District of Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk on Friday ruled that Kansas, Idaho, and Missouri can intervene in conservative physician and medical associations’ lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration over decisions on mifepristone’s availability to the public.

The lawsuit dates back to late 2022 and has since ping-ponged between the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Court, where the justices will weigh whether mifepristone can be delivered via mail and be taken later during pregnancy.

The states asked the Texas-based judge to intervene in the lawsuit in November. But the Justice Department and abortion pill maker Danco Laboratories pushed back, arguing the states don’t have standing to sue and accusing them of trying to keep the battle alive should the Supreme Court decide the doctors behind the broader lawsuit had no room to sue.

In siding against the FDA, Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, said the states “only recently learned” of “the number of their residents obtaining chemical abortions and the number of out-of-state organizations mailing abortion pills into their states,” and that an adverse outcome could affect how they regulate their legal system.

The FDA and Danco didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The case is All. for Hippocratic Med. v. FDA, N.D. Tex., No. 2:22-cv-00223, Order 1/12/24.