FDA Wouldn’t Defend Its Own Mifepristone Rule in Court

On Wednesday Louisiana asked the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the abortion drug mifepristone from being mailed to patients by reinstating a rule that says you have to show up in person to get it. But if it wins, Louisiana told the three-judge panel, it doesn’t want the rule change to go into effect immediately, because Louisiana doesn’t trust the Supreme Court would let that restriction stand.

Meanwhile, the FDA showed up to oppose Louisiana in court but wouldn’t answer a single question about its own rule. So the abortion pill manufacturers (who are now party to the mifepristone lawsuit) ended up defending the agency’s rule instead.

Imani Gandy breaks down what actually happened at this week’s oral argument in Louisiana v. FDA, why one judge called Louisiana’s own strategy “self-defeating,” and why the FDA’s silence in that courtroom should worry you more than anything Louisiana said there.
 

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