Wisconsin AG joins coalition challenging ruling on abortion medication

MADISON, Wis. (Civic Media) – Wisconsin AG Josh Kaul announced Tuesday that he is joining a group of states challenging a decision by a federal judge in Texas that could restrict abortion medication across the country.

In a release, Kaul said that Wisconsin would be joining attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia in filing the brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit.

“The months following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade have made it clearer than ever how vital it is for women to have access to the full array of life-saving reproductive health care services—without interference from politicians,” Kaul said. “Mifepristone has been used safely for years, and the misguided district court order that would prevent the use of mifepristone must be blocked.”

The coalition of attorneys general said in the release that without the drug, safe access to abortion care and miscarriage management for millions of people would be taken away, and would also eliminate the authority of each state to provide access to abortions.

The ruling by the Northern District of Texas cited safety concerns with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, calling back to the Comstock Act of 1873 that prohibits, among other things, mailing medicine to be used in an abortion.

Mifepristone has been approved by the FDA since 2000.

A ruling filed in Washington that would order the FDA to continue to approve dispensing the drug directly conflicts with the ruling in Texas, leading to various appeals, including the brief filed by over two dozen attorneys general, with the expectation that the rulings will end up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

You can read the brief filed by AG Kaul and other attorneys general here.