CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey joined a multistate coalition urging the U.S. Supreme Court to block a Federal Drug Administration mail-order abortion drug action.
The 21 states argue in the brief that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s attempt to push a national mail-order abortion regime violates federal law, state laws and the court’s Dobbs opinion.
Morrisey said as a pro-life advocate he doesn't believe the FDA should be pushing President Joe Biden's agenda.
"The U.S. Supreme Court was very clear when it overturned Roe v. Wade that the states have authority to regulate abortion," Morrisey said. "The FDA’s plan is nothing more than an attempt to circumvent that ruling and push the Biden administration’s far-left agenda."
In the brief, the states noted that the court held that abortion is a matter that is entrusted to "the people and their elected representatives" to address.
"Overruling precedent that took that authority away from the people, the Court returned the issue of 'regulating or prohibiting abortion' to 'the citizens of each State,'" the brief states. "States may thus pursue their 'legitimate interests' in protecting unborn life, women’s health, and the medical profession by regulating or restricting abortion."
Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming have adopted laws regulating abortion— including chemical abortion.
Those laws strike a balance among the competing interests, are the results of hard-fought democratic processes, and embody the considered judgments of "the people and their elected representatives," the brief states.
"Yet the Administration and the FDA have attacked and worked to undermine the considered judgments of the elected representatives of States like amici," the brief says. "The day Dobbs was decided, President Biden directed his Administration to ensure that abortion drugs are 'as widely accessible as possible,' including 'through telehealth and sent by mail.'"
Morrisey said he wants to save as many babies' lives as possible.
The attorneys general argue that FDA's efforts to impose a mail-order elective-abortion regime disregards the protections for life, health, and safety adopted by numerous states’ elected representatives.
U.S. Supreme Court of Appeals case number: 22A901, 22A902