WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today joined Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. The case challenges the FDA’s move to make the chemical abortion pill available through the mail without a doctor’s visit or in-person medical supervision.

“The FDA’s move to make abortion pills available by mail—without so much as a doctor’s visit—puts women and babies in danger. It’s also illegal. The Supreme Court should stop the FDA before at-home abortions steal more lives,” said Kennedy.

“The intent of our friend-of-the-court brief makes the case for holding the FDA accountable for endangering the lives of women and girls in its march to make abortion-inducing drugs easily available. It is about taking to task a federal agency that has willingly and aggressively subverted federal law. I hope the brief is well received as this case is heard by the justices,” said Hyde-Smith.

“The FDA is not only breaking the law by making dangerous abortion drugs available through the mail without proper medical oversight, but they are also endangering the safety of women and girls. I am proud to lead this initiative with Senator Hyde-Smith to keep politics out of health care,” said Pfluger.

The lawmakers’ amicus brief argues that:

• The FDA’s failure to adhere to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) has created significant health and safety risks to women and girls.

• The FDA has permitted mail-order chemical abortion drugs in violation of federal law.

Background:

• In Sept. 2000, the FDA used an accelerated process for drugs that treat “serious or life-threatening illnesses” to approve mifepristone, the chemical abortion pill.

• Upon the initial approval of the drug, the FDA required that the drug only be used in the first seven weeks of pregnancy and with a prescription from a physician.

• In March 2016, the FDA revised these restrictions to allow non-physicians to prescribe and administer the drug in a single office visit, extend its use to ten weeks and no longer require doctors to report non-fatal medical complications.

• The Biden FDA again modified the these restrictions in Dec. 2021. This time, it made permanent a COVID-19 pandemic-related decision to undo the requirement that the drug be dispensed in person. This move cemented a system of mail-order abortion drugs.

• In Nov. 2022, doctors and medical associations filed suit against the FDA, arguing that they violated the Administrative Procedure Act in their 2000, 2016 and 2021 decisions.

• In April 2023, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a preliminary ruling ordering a hold on federal approval of mifepristone. Within days, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed much of the lower court’s ruling but ordered the chemical abortion pill remain on the market pending further litigation.

• Also in April 2023, the Supreme Court granted the Biden Justice Department’s request for emergency relief. That put the lower court’s ruling on hold. In Dec. 2023, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the abortion pill cases.

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) signed the brief along with more than 90 members of the House of Representatives.

The amicus brief is available here.