The Family Foundation joins U.S. Supreme Court brief opposing FDA’s abortion pill approval and disregard for women’s health

The Family Foundation, along with over 35 allied family policy councils, recently filed a “friend of the court” amicus legal brief with the United States Supreme Court in U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, asking the court to hold the FDA accountable for their unlawful removal of safety standards on chemical abortion drugs. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case on March 26.

In August 2023, “a unanimous panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that the FDA must restore the safety standards and disallow abortion drugs from being shipped by mail,” according to the Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal representation the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. The Biden Administration and Danco Laboratories asked the Supreme Court to review the Fifth Circuit’s decision, and the Supreme Court announced that it will hear oral arguments regarding the FDA’s removal of safety standards.

This amicus brief asks the Supreme Court to uphold the Fifth Circuit’s decision. The brief presents these three main arguments:

1) Principles of Federalism Require FDA Adherence to Federal Law.

2) Chemical Abortions are Inherently Dangerous.

3) The FDA is Not Listening, Resulting in Arbitrary and Capricious Decisions.

The brief also succinctly presents the issues and concerns with the FDA’s removal of safety standards stating, “In summary, the FDA believes that pregnancy is a ‘serious or life-threatening illness’ that can be treated by chemical-inducing abortion drugs prescribed by someone who is not a doctor, to a woman who has never been seen by a doctor, up to 10 weeks of pregnancy, shipped to a woman in the mail, and the FDA only wants to hear from medical personnel about adverse events when patients are dead.”

Ultimately, the Biden Administration and the FDA are seeking to promote the chemical abortion pill, which is the leading abortion method in the United States, while unnecessarily endangering women. The Family Foundation hopes the reinstatement of safety standards is just the first step in bringing an end to chemical abortions, which ends the life of a preborn baby and can put the health of mothers at risk.

The brief can be viewed here, and for more general information about the case, please view this case summary from our allies at Alliance Defending Freedom.