Louisiana pressed a federal judge Tuesday to block a Biden-era Food and Drug Administration rule that eliminated the in-person dispensing requirement for the dangerous abortion drug mifepristone that has killed millions of babies and injured thousands of women.
Louisiana is arguing the change enables illegal chemical abortions in the state, endangers women through unsupervised use and coercion, and directly undermines Louisiana’s ban on abortion.
In a hearing before U.S. District Judge David C. Joseph in the Western District of Louisiana, Louisiana Solicitor General Ben Aguiñaga argued on behalf of the state and co-plaintiff Rosalie Markezich, a Louisiana woman who alleges her ex-boyfriend coerced her into taking mailed abortion pills in 2023 against her will to keep her baby.
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The lawsuit, filed in October 2025, challenges the FDA’s 2023 modifications to the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for mifepristone which permanently removed the longstanding requirement that the drug be dispensed in person by a certified prescriber. This allowed certified pharmacies to dispense it directly, including by mail, often following telehealth consultations.
Louisiana contends the rule facilitates the illegal mailing of abortion drugs into the state, violating its strict pro-life laws that prohibit nearly all abortions and classify mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances.
The state argues the FDA exceeded its authority, acted arbitrarily by ignoring safety risks — including failure to screen for ectopic pregnancies, Rh incompatibility complications, or coercion — and contravened federal law, including the Comstock Act’s prohibitions on mailing abortion-related items.
Attorney General Liz Murrill issued a statement after the hearing: “Today, we were in federal court in Lafayette asking Judge David Joseph to issue a preliminary injunction against the FDA’s 2023 REMS rule, adopted during the Biden administration, which removed the in-person dispensing requirement for abortion pills. We believe this rule puts women at risk and undermines Louisiana’s pro-life laws. The drug manufacturers also appeared in court to defend their financial interests, which we find deeply troubling.”
“We now await the court’s decision, but regardless of the outcome, we will always continue fighting to protect women and babies in Louisiana.”
Murrill estimated a ruling could come in one to two months, as it is solely up to the judge.
The hearing included arguments from the FDA and from drug manufacturers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, who intervened in the case to defend the rule and access to the baby-killing drug.
According to data cited in the lawsuit from the Society of Family Planning’s #WeCount report, mail-order shipments led to an average of 617 chemical abortions per month in Louisiana from April to June 2024, rising to 800 in December 2024.
Pro-life advocates argue that reinstating in-person dispensing could prevent thousands of abortions by restoring safeguards against unsupervised use and abuse.
Markezich’s personal account highlights the human cost: Without in-person requirements, her abuser could obtain the pills remotely and pressure her into an abortion she did not want, bypassing medical screening that could have detected coercion.
The lawsuit is part of broader post-Dobbs efforts by pro-life states to curb medication abortion access, which now accounts for a majority of U.S. abortions, amid near-total bans on surgical procedures in states like Louisiana.
Judge Joseph, a Trump appointee, did not indicate a timeline for his decision during the arguments.
