By Staff Report
Florida and Texas on Tuesday filed a lawsuit challenging more than two decades of federal decisions that cleared the way for the use of abortion drugs, arguing that allowing the medications to be distributed through the mail interferes with state laws restricting abortions.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Wichita Falls, Texas, by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, contends that a series of U.S. Food and Drug Administration decisions dating back to 2000 were “arbitrary, capricious” and an “abuse of discretion” under federal law.
“The United States Food and Drug Administration is responsible for protecting the public health by ensuring that drugs are safe and effective,” the 120-page lawsuit said. “Yet the FDA’s approval and deregulation of abortion drugs have placed women and girls in harm’s way.”
The case focuses on mifepristone, a drug used to terminate pregnancies, which is typically taken in combination with misoprostol, a medication that induces contractions to expel pregnancy tissue.
The lawsuit challenges the FDA’s initial approval of mifepristone in 2000 and a series of later actions that loosened restrictions on its use. Among the changes cited are a 2016 decision extending the maximum gestational age for use from 49 days to 70 days, allowing non-physicians to dispense the drug, and decisions in 2021 and 2023 eliminating in-person dispensing requirements and permitting the drug to be shipped by mail.
Uthmeier and Paxton argue that the FDA’s actions violate the federal Administrative Procedure Act, which governs rulemaking by federal agencies, and an 1873 law known as the Comstock Act, which they say prohibits mailing abortion drugs. The lawsuit also alleges that the FDA’s decisions were politically motivated, noting they occurred under Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden.
The American Civil Liberties Union criticized the lawsuit, calling it part of a broader effort to restrict access to abortion medication nationwide. The ACLU said mifepristone is used in roughly two-thirds of U.S. abortions.
“These lawsuits have nothing to do with the safety of this medication and everything to do with making it harder for people to get an abortion,” Julia Kaye, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a prepared statement.
The legal challenge comes amid intensified debate over abortion access following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Florida and Texas have since enacted strict abortion laws. Florida’s law, which took effect in May 2024, bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, restricts telehealth abortions, and requires in-person dispensing of abortion drugs.
The lawsuit argues that FDA policies undermine those state restrictions and interfere with the states’ ability to enforce their laws. In addition to the FDA, the suit names the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and agency officials as defendants.
“Absent the relief sought in this lawsuit, defendants’ actions will continue to encourage the violation of plaintiffs’ laws and will harm plaintiffs’ sovereign interests,” the lawsuit states.
Ali Moreland 
AMBER PATINO