Louisiana v. FDA: Memorandum Ruling (Western District of Louisiana)

LAFAYETTE, La. — A federal court today paused a lawsuit, Louisiana v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), that seeks to make it harder for people nationwide to get medication abortion by restricting access to mifepristone, a medication used in nearly two-thirds of U.S. abortions as well as for miscarriage care. The court put the litigation on hold to allow the Trump administration to move forward with its own review of the medication based on discredited anti-abortion propaganda. The Trump administration’s review appears designed to lay the groundwork for additional restrictions on the safe and effective medication. The restrictions that could result threaten to push a medication that millions of patients have safely used for more than 25 years further out of reach, even in states where abortion is legally protected. The court ordered FDA to provide a report on the status of its review by October 7, 2026. “Putting this baseless case on hold is certainly a better outcome than what Louisiana asked for: severe and immediate restrictions on mifepristone that would upend abortion and miscarriage care across the country,” said Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney for the Reproductive Freedom Project of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “But it is small comfort that the Trump administration now holds the baton in this ongoing attack on medication abortion when we can see the administration teeing up the same harmful restrictions that abortion opponents are trying to win in court. The Trump administration is moving forward with an FDA review designed to manufacture an excuse for further restricting medication abortion across the country. If the Trump administration limits access to mifepristone, it would fly in the face of science and break President Trump’s campaign promises not to impose new federal restrictions on abortion, which Americans overwhelmingly oppose.” In pausing the litigation, the court declined Louisiana’s request that it force the FDA to immediately end patients’ ability to fill a prescription for mifepristone by mail or at a local pharmacy after being evaluated and counseled by a health care provider through telemedicine. Today, more than 1 in 4 people in the U.S. who have an abortion do so using telemedicine. Without this method of care delivery, patients using mifepristone would be forced to travel, sometimes hundreds of miles, to a health center just to pick up a pill, a requirement that leading medical authorities agree has no safety benefit. For some patients — especially people with low incomes, those living in rural areas, people with disabilities, younger people, and survivors of domestic violence — traveling to a clinic is an added barrier that can prevent them from getting an abortion altogether. While the Louisiana case has been paused, two other legal challenges to mifepristone access brought by anti-abortion state attorneys general remain pending. Despite abundant proof that mifepristone has been safely used by millions of patients over 25 years — and that people nationwide support access to medication abortion — anti-abortion politicians and groups continue to push for restrictions based on anti-abortion propaganda. The Trump administration’s review was prompted by a self-published paper from a Project 2025 sponsor that distorts mifepristone’s excellent safety record and has been widely debunked by expert researchers. Despite the paper’s lack of peer review, lack of transparency, and grossly flawed methodology, Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy has doubled down on the publication’s importance. Secretary Kennedy also stated that changes to the FDA’s mifepristone regulations would “ultimately go through the White House, through President Trump.”