Trump-era officials seek to dismiss abortion medication case

On Monday, May 5, 2025, the Trump administration requested a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by three Republican-led states that seeks to end telehealth access to the abortion medication mifepristone.

The states included Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri,

While the Justice Department maintained the legal strategy initially pursued by the Biden administration, it refrained from taking a position on the broader debate surrounding access to the drug.

This debate is supposedly part of the most commonly used method for abortion in the United States.

Instead of addressing the legality or safety of mifepristone itself, federal attorneys argued that the states lack the proper legal standing to bring the case forward.

They claimed that the lawsuit should be either dismissed or transferred to a more appropriate venue in accordance with federal law.

“The states are free to pursue their claims in a district where venue is proper,” government attorneys wrote, “but the states’ claims before this court must be dismissed or transferred pursuant to the venue statute’s mandatory command.”

The lawsuit, brought by Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri, challenges actions taken by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand access to mifepristone.

These states argue that the FDA should reinstate stricter regulations:

• banning prescriptions via telehealth,
• requiring three in-person clinic visits,
• and limiting the window during pregnancy when the drug can be administered.

The case was filed after the U.S. Supreme Court preserved access to mifepristone in a previous ruling.

Currently, the case is being reviewed by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas.

Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, previously ruled in favor of halting FDA approval of the drug in a separate case filed by anti-abortion organizations.

That decision was later narrowed by an appeals court before the Supreme Court ultimately overturned it, stating that the plaintiffs lacked standing.

After the Supreme Court dismissed that original case, the three GOP-led states sought to revive the issue.

They claimed they did have standing based on the assertion that widespread access to mifepristone conflicts with their respective abortion laws.

However, the Justice Department’s attorneys countered that the states cannot simply attach themselves to the earlier case as a means to keep the litigation in Texas.

According to attorney Daniel Schwei, the venue must have a meaningful connection to the claims presented.

Since the actions being contested originated with the FDA and occurred outside of Texas, the case lacks that necessary jurisdictional link.

Additionally, Schwei pointed out that the states are challenging FDA decisions made back in 2016 when the agency initially relaxed regulations around mifepristone.

He emphasized that the six-year statute of limitations for filing legal challenges to those changes has already expired.

State-level abortion laws vary significantly among the plaintiffs. Idaho bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy.

Missouri also had a near-total ban, though recent changes have allowed clinics to resume abortion services.

This follows a voter-approved amendment establishing constitutional protections for reproductive rights.

In Kansas, abortion remains legal up to 22 weeks of pregnancy.

Voters in that state rejected an anti-abortion ballot measure in 2022, although parental consent laws and other restrictions still apply.

Former President Donald Trump, in a December interview with Time magazine, stated that he would not restrict access to abortion medications.

On the campaign trail, Trump has emphasized that abortion policy should be determined by individual states.

He also pointed to his role in appointing Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, eliminating the federal constitutional right to abortion.

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has drawn criticism from both pro- and anti-abortion groups for his inconsistent positions on the issue.

During his confirmation hearings in January, he repeatedly described abortion as a “tragedy” but refrained from outlining specific policy positions.

Mifepristone, typically used with a second drug, is the foundation of medication abortions, which now account for over 60% of all abortions in the United States.

This increase has followed the Supreme Court’s decision to end nationwide abortion protections.

This has reportedly made access to such medications a central battleground in the ongoing legal and political fight over reproductive rights.

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