The FDA and the Justice Department engaged in a political move when they ignored federal regulations that prohibit the facilitation of abortion-inducing drugs without a prescription or an in-person consultation with a physician or a care facility, according to a former Attorney General.
“The reversal of Roe v. Wade to the Dobbs decision makes abortion far more restricted in many states and this appears to be an effort to provide some relief to those who are promoting abortion in the more restricted areas to allow more or greater access to abortion procedures,” said Curtis Hill, Indiana Attorney General emeritus.
Hill was reacting to the news that 22 Attorneys General, including Missouri, signed onto a letter delivered to Dr. Robert Califf, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, demanding a reversal in the FDA’s change to the Risk Evaluation Mitigation Strategy, which authorizes the remote prescription and administration of mifepristone.
“This policy change seems to reverse the requirement that a physician does an in-person examination to make a determination of the age of the fetus, which would be critical in outlining when such medication is allowable,” Hill told the St. Louis Record.
Some 53% of Americans strongly disapprove of the reversal of Roe v Wade, including 84 percent of Democrats, compared with 29 percent who strongly approve, including 58% of Republicans, according to a Monmouth University study.
But Hill said the law is the law regardless of politics.
“If the Biden administration or its Justice Department can simply ignore or twist the federal law, then that suggests that no law makes any sense and no law matters,” Hill said. “So, it's important that if we're going to be a nation of laws, that our laws be clear and enforced and followed.”
Mifepristone is a medication that blocks the hormone progesterone and without progesterone, a pregnancy cannot continue.
“Though the FDA has abdicated its responsibility to protect women’s health, we have not,” the Jan. 13 letter states. “To be crystal clear, you have not negated any of our laws that forbid the remote prescription, administration, and use of abortion-inducing drugs. The health and safety of our citizens—women and children included—is of paramount concern. Nothing in the FDA’s recent changes affects how we will protect our people.”
Attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia also signed the letter, which could ultimately lead to a lawsuit.
“Anytime you have a number of attorneys general, certainly a number over 20, that's an indication of great support amongst at least a core number of attorneys general, and certainly puts the Justice Department on notice that there is probably going to be forthcoming action, from not just a singular state, but a collection of states that are willing to pool their resources and address the issue more aggressively,” Hill added.