Idaho AG Raúl Labrador wants to intervene in federal lawsuit against abortion pill
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador is leading a group of seven states in their effort to intervene in a federal lawsuit concerning the ongoing availability of the abortion pill nationally.
On behalf of the six other states, including Texas and Idaho neighbors Utah and Montana, the Idaho attorney general’s office filed a motion Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington asking to join the case, and requesting the matter be expedited.
The lawsuit that Labrador hopes to join involves a dozen other states suing to ensure access to the drug mifepristone, which is prescribed to end an early pregnancy. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone more than 20 years ago. A generic form received the federal agency’s authorization as safe and effective in 2019.
A spokesperson for the Idaho attorney general’s office declined to comment to the Idaho Statesman on Tuesday, citing ongoing litigation.
Judges issue competing decisions on abortion pill
The case and sudden spotlight on the abortion pill stems from competing opinions last week from two U.S. District Court judges — one in Texas and one in Washington. In response, Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration and several states and have since filed lawsuits in various federal courts.
U.S. District Court Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk for the Northern District of Texas issued a preliminary ruling Friday that invalidated the FDA’s previous approval in 2000 of mifepristone, which, along with misoprostol, is used to terminate a pregnancy within 10 weeks. Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former Republican President Donald Trump, provided seven days before his ruling took effect to allow appeals.
About an hour later, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas O. Rice for the Eastern District of Washington ordered the FDA to take no action to remove mifepristone from pharmacy shelves. The appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama ruled that the federal agency maintain status quo availability of the abortion pill.
Now, Labrador and his office seek to get involved in the legal and political tug-of-war.
“Plaintiff states like Washington, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oregon border several of plaintiffs-intervenors, and differing safeguards for mifepristone in these states directly affect plaintiffs-intervenors and their residents,” the legal filing read. “These concerns are particularly salient since mifepristone may otherwise not be approved for marketing as of April 15, 2023, under the (Texas) court’s order.”
The intervening states requested a ruling on the expedited motion by April 21, and noted their intent to file their motion to intervene by April 19, if approved. The deadline to appeal the Washington district court judge’s ruling is May 8, the filing read.
The intervening legal filing is signed by Lincoln Davis Wilson, an Idaho deputy attorney general who is chief of the office’s civil litigation and constitutional defense division.
The states that filed the lawsuit, Washington, Oregon and Nevada among them, and the defendants — the FDA and its overarching U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — both oppose Idaho’s motion to intervene, the filing read.
This story was originally published April 12, 2023 at 4:00 AM.
