The head of a national group of pro-life obstetricians and gynecologists called Wednesday for a federal appeals court to halt mail-order abortions, saying the Food and Drug Administration abandoned women and girls when it stripped longstanding safeguards from the dangerous abortion pill mifepristone.
Dr. Christina Francis, CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, issued the statement as the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard arguments in Louisiana v. FDA.
The case challenges 2023 FDA changes that removed the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone and allowed the drug to be prescribed by telehealth and sent through the mail or retail pharmacies.
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Since then, women have died from using the abortion drug and tens of thousands of women have been injured.
“The FDA abandoned women and girls when it removed longstanding safeguards for mifepristone and paved the way for mail-order abortions, leaving patients vulnerable to serious health risks and abuse,” Francis said. “As we detail in our brief to the court, our patients deserve care that is grounded in rigorous evidence and sound medicine, not political ideology. It is past time for the FDA to do its job and restore common-sense safeguards that protect women and ensure they receive the highest standard of care.”
“We stand with the state of Louisiana, Alliance Defending Freedom, Rosalie Markevich, and the women and children who have been harmed by these reckless policies,” the OBGYN added.
AAPLOG filed an amicus brief in the case. Francis also submitted an expert witness declaration.
The doctors group argues that remote prescribing leaves women without an in-person exam to confirm gestational age, rule out ectopic pregnancy, or screen for coercion and other conditions that raise the risk of hemorrhage, incomplete abortion, infection, and other complications.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and plaintiff Rosalie Markezich sued the FDA in 2025 with attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom. Markezich, a Louisiana woman, says her then-boyfriend obtained the pills by mail from a California doctor in 2023 and coerced her into taking them against her will, ending a pregnancy she wanted to continue.
The lawsuit contends the FDA’s 2023 action was arbitrary and capricious, enabled illegal abortions in a state that prohibits most abortions, and left women without basic medical protections.
A federal district judge in Lafayette found the plaintiffs likely to succeed on the merits but paused the case while the FDA conducts a safety review of mifepristone. A 5th Circuit panel later granted a stay that would have restored the in-person requirement nationwide.
The Supreme Court put that order on hold while the appeal proceeds. Wednesday’s hearing is part of that appeal.
Francis and AAPLOG say the FDA’s decision after the Supreme Court returned abortion regulation to the states was driven by ideology rather than rigorous evidence. They argue women and their unborn children are entitled to the highest standard of medical care, not a mail-order regimen that bypasses a physician’s examination and makes it easier for abusers to obtain the drugs without a woman’s knowledge or consent.
The appeals court is expected to issue a written ruling in the coming months. The dispute is widely expected to return to the Supreme Court.
