Idaho and a group of GOP-led states will not be allowed to join Washington state’s lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulation of mifepristone, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said Idaho could not prove harm related to the FDA regulations, so it had no standing to challenge and, as a result, could not intervene.
The court said its 3-0 ruling was “guided by the Supreme Court’s recent standing decision” in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, where a group of anti-abortion doctors’ challenge to mifepristone was similarly rejected because they could not prove they were harmed by women’s use of the medication.
The Alliance ruling said doctors could not demonstrate that they had been forced to perform abortions or take any other measures because of the FDA’s approval of mifepristone.
Washington and a coalition of blue states sued the FDA in 2023 for overly burdensome regulation of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortion. But a coalition of red states led by Idaho sought to intervene, calling for a completely different outcome.
Washington requested a declaration that mifepristone is “safe and effective” and an injunction prohibiting the FDA from taking any action that would reduce the availability of mifepristone. A district court granted the injunction last year.
But red states asked for a preliminary injunction to reverse changes made by the FDA to make mifepristone more accessible, including eliminating the requirement for in-person distribution. His motion was rejected at the district level.
According to the court, “the two complaints have little in common and are, in many respects, diametrically opposed.”
Washington’s complaint concerns the legality of the FDA’s supplier certification and patient documentation requirements, as well as the agency’s broader determination that mifepristone meets “rigorous standards” for imposing restrictions in the first place.
The Idaho complaint, on the other hand, focuses entirely on the FDA’s elimination of the in-person dispensing requirement, alleging that the change was inadequately explained contrary to medical science.
The ruling is the first from any federal appeals court on mifepristone.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee who had previously allowed Alliance doctors to sue for approval of mifepristone, also allowed Missouri, Kansas and Idaho to intervene and pursue the case in Texas.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
