BREAKING: Judge Weighs Blocking Mail-Order Abortion Drugs Nationwide
Justice Department asks court to extend victimization of babies, women, and pro-life states
A nationwide mail-order abortion scheme fueling an abortion crime wave could soon come to a halt.
Despite a longstanding federal ban on the mailing of abortion drugs, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has allowed the practice for more than four years without any meaningful regulation or oversight.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and the nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom challenged that policy change at a Feb. 24 hearing before U.S. District Judge David C. Joseph. They asked the judge for a preliminary injunction to pause the FDA's allowance of mail-order abortion as their case to nix the policy moves forward.
"We believe this rule puts women at risk and undermines Louisiana's pro-life laws," Murrill explained in an X post following the hearing.
Today, we were in federal court in Lafayette asking Judge David Joseph to issue a preliminary injunction against the FDA’s 2023 REMS rule, adopted during the Biden administration, which removed the in-person dispensing requirement for abortion pills.
— Attorney General Liz Murrill (@AGLizMurrill) February 24, 2026
We believe this rule puts… pic.twitter.com/zDDN4to1wN
Louisiana has almost completely banned abortion, except in cases involving a threat to the mother's life or any of her life-sustaining organs. Murrill filed the lawsuit last October on behalf of her constituent, Rosalie Markezich, a victim of alleged coerced abortion via drugs her ex-boyfriend purportedly obtained in the mail.
For decades, the FDA required patients to obtain abortion drugs in person under a doctor's supervision. The agency temporarily lifted that requirement in December 2021 and then made the change permanent in January 2023. Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Erik Baptist said Markezich's story underscores the gravity of that change.
"This is one of those cases where it highlights where men can order these drugs through the mail, obtain them, and then coerce women into taking them," Baptist told Restoration News, noting that some women have even been tricked into taking abortion drugs without their knowledge.
The judge has yet to rule on a preliminary injunction, though an order is expected within the coming days or weeks.
New Details Emerge on FDA Review
One highlight of the hearing was the revelation of new information concerning the FDA's ongoing safety review of mifepristone, one of two drugs in the chemical abortion regimen.
The comprehensive review follows the release of two studies last year that found mifepristone may be far more dangerous for women than previously believed. Reviews of the same medical insurance claims data conducted by Restoration of America Foundation and the Ethics and Public Policy Center found that about 11 percent of women who have a chemical abortion will suffer serious side effects—a rate 22 times higher than that listed on mifepristone's FDA label. Potential complications range from hemorrhage and sepsis to uterine rupture and even death.
Pro-Life Champions: Louisiana AG Lawsuit Could End 'Plan C' Abortion Crime Wave
— Restoration of America Foundation (@__ROAF) November 7, 2025
Read more: https://t.co/hP2EWvhxqx pic.twitter.com/qOPLEDErbM
The public outcry over these findings prompted Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to order the safety review last May. Since then, the FDA has shared very few details about that process or how long it might take. In court, however, Baptist said the Justice Department finally filled in some blanks.
Government attorneys revealed that the FDA is conducting its own study of mifepristone's safety in addition to its usual review of its restrictions on the drug's use, also known as Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS). That study is expected to take about a year.
However, according to Baptist, the study is just one aspect of the FDA's review. The agency is also reviewing all available scientific literature concerning mifepristone and its adverse side effects, as well as "a plethora of citizen petitions" asking the agency to restore prior safeguards on its use.
On top of all that, a federal district court in Hawaii has ordered the FDA to assess whether the available evidence warrants stripping all of mifepristone's remaining REMS.
"To me, that timeline sounds like it's going to take at least two or three years before they finish that review," Baptist said.
With that timeline in mind, the Justice Department asked the court to put the case on hold until after the review is complete. But Baptist stressed that the dangers posed by the FDA's current policy are too great to delay relief.
"You shouldn't ask to put this case on ice where we're seeking immediate relief to what we call irreparable harms," he said. "You can't restore a baby's life after it's taken or the harms that happen to women after they take these drugs or are coerced to take these drugs."
Markezich is not the only woman to have been victimized since the FDA made abortion pills easier to obtain. Coerced abortions are on the rise, with the most recent case occurring in Montgomery County, Texas, just last month.
Jon Rueben Gabriel Demeter, 25, stands accused of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly administering abortion drugs to the mother of his unborn child without her knowledge or consent. The mother miscarried, and the baby, whom she named Presley Mae, was stillborn at the hospital.
Additional cases have cropped up elsewhere in Texas, Illinois, Florida, and Louisiana of women being tricked or coerced into taking abortion pills against their will.
Arguing to allow more innocent lives to be taken and more women to be abused is "a perplexing, head-scratching position for the administration to take, but that is what they're taking," Baptist held.
Pending Decision
While it can be difficult to predict which way a judge will rule, Baptist said his team was encouraged by Joseph's line of questioning.
"We thought a lot of the discussion would be around what we call standing, which is the constitutional ability to bring a case in federal court under Article III of the Constitution," he said.
The Supreme Court tossed a similar challenge by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine for lack of standing in 2024. This time, however, the court seemed unconcerned with standing, "so that was promising," Baptist said.
Instead, the judge asked how he might narrow the scope of relief if he were to grant an injunction. The Justice Department acknowledged that, logistically, the only way to effectively prevent the mailing of abortion drugs to Louisiana would be to halt the practice nationwide.
Baptist also noted that the defense did not dispute that upwards of 1,000 chemical abortions are occurring each month in a state that has all but outlawed the practice.
"That is an important concession by all parties that even Danco [Laboratories] and GenBioPro did not deny," Baptist said, referencing two abortion drug manufacturers that have joined the defense. "So, to me, and maybe to the court, it's self-evident that the state is incurring this harm."
Federal law already forbids the mailing of abortion drugs under the Comstock Act—a clear problem for the FDA's case. But on that, the Justice Department has yet to take a position.
"It's only the sponsors, Danco and GenBioPro, have come back and said . . . that federal agencies do not have to comply and adhere to criminal statutes, which is just not what the Supreme Court has said," Baptist noted. "You cannot authorize what is prohibited by other laws."
As for when the judge might issue an order, Baptist said the court did not provide a timeline. "But because it's one of those motions where you seek immediate relief due to irreparable harm, we anticipate that the court would respond as quickly as it can."
MORE ABORTION PILL NEWS:
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INVESTIGATION: The Abortion Pill Industrial Complex Flooding America with Illegal Drugs
COMMENTARY: The Left Loves 'Choice'—Until a Mother Chooses Life
WATCH: From Abortion to Redemption: Toni McFadden’s Story | Restoration Spotlight
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