The attorneys general of Florida and Texas are suing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, challenging access to and federal approval of mifepristone, a drug used to terminate early pregnancies. It’s the third ongoing lawsuit with similar claims filed by Republican state attorneys general more than two years after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a ruling that would have limited nationwide access to the medication. (Photo by Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)
Attorneys for the states of Florida and Texas filed another lawsuit this week seeking to restrict access to a medication abortion drug and rescind the approval of its brand-name and generic versions dating back to 2000.
It’s the latest in a series of actions taken by state Republican officials to limit how mifepristone, one of two drugs used to end a pregnancy before 10 weeks, can be dispensed. It’s also the third lawsuit with similar claims — another is ongoing in Missouri after U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk transferred it out of his court in Texas earlier this year, and Louisiana lodged its own suit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in October.
Kacsmaryk initially granted a challenge to mifepristone brought by conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom in 2023, but the U.S. Supreme Court struck down that ruling, determining the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue. After that, the attorneys general of Missouri, Kansas and Idaho refiled the case as new plaintiffs, but Kacsmaryk said he did not want to defy the Supreme Court. Instead of returning the case to square one by having the plaintiffs file a new lawsuit, Kacsmaryk wrote that it would make sense to transfer it to Missouri to avoid costs and delays, Missouri Independent reported.
This week, Republican lawmakers have been demanding answers from the FDA about reports that a safety review of mifepristone won’t be completed until after the 2026 midterm elections, and anti-abortion groups are calling for the FDA commissioner, Marty Makary, to be fired.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Texas’ Wichita Falls division, relies on anti-abortion rhetoric to claim the drug is unsafe, and allege the Comstock Act of 1873 prohibits abortion pills from being sent through the mail. The attorneys say regulations applied during the COVID-19 pandemic that permitted the drug to be dispensed without an in-person visit are unsafe and undermine state rights to enforce their abortion laws.
“By causing a massive increase in the number of women obtaining (medication) abortions, the 2019 and 2025 Generic Approvals exacerbate the difficulty that plaintiffs face in regulating abortions performed within their borders,” the complaint reads. “It was arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion to approve mifepristone without requiring an ultrasound and blood test.”
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argue the court should declare the initial 2000 approval of one brand of the drug improper and nullify many of the FDA-approved regulations guiding use of the medication.
Texas has a near-total abortion ban, while Florida bans it at six weeks — before most people know they are pregnant.
Multiple studies conducted by the FDA and other independent organizations since mifepristone’s initial approval in 2000 have concluded it is safe to use and is in fact safer than many drugs on the market. The reported number of serious complications is extremely small, but anti-abortion groups have contended without evidence that the data is flawed and vastly underestimates the number of complications.
“These lawsuits have nothing to do with the safety of this medication and everything to do with making it harder for people to get an abortion,” said Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Reproductive Freedom Project, in a statement. “Politicians in Texas and Florida are asking for a nationwide ban on a safe and effective medication that millions of Americans have used since the FDA first approved it 25 years ago.”
New data from the Society of Family Planning released this week showed more people continue to obtain abortion medication through telehealth — about 1 in 4 abortions nationwide. Many states that preserve reproductive rights enacted shield laws to protect providers and patients from related out-of-state investigations. Out of nearly 430,000 abortion procedures between January and June in 2025, more than 162,000 were medication abortions.
According to the organization’s research, just 5% of patients were receiving medication via telehealth in 2022 after the Dobbs decision, and during the same time period of 2025, that number was 27%.
The lawsuit will be assigned to a judge and receive an initial hearing in the coming weeks.
This story was originally produced by News From The States, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Alabama Reflector, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
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Author: Kelcie Moseley-Morris