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We the People

The Legality of Abortion Pills

We the People

National Constitution Center

News, News Commentary, History

4.61.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2023

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last Friday, judges in Texas and Washington state handed down conflicting decisions on the legality of abortion medication pills. In Texas, a district judge invalidated the FDA’s decades-old approval of the widely used drug mifepristone. Late this Wednesday, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit partially overruled that decision by allowing mifepristone to remain available, but temporarily prevented it from being sent to by mail and limited its approved use to the first seven weeks of pregnancy. Meanwhile, in Washington state, a district judge ordered the FDA to not rollback mifepristone’s approval while litigation over the drug is ongoing. Together, the two cases create a legal debacle for the FDA, which the Justice Department has asked the Washington court to provide guidance on. Eventually, the cases may go to the U.S. Supreme Court. Thomas Jipping of The Heritage Foundation and Rachel Rebouché of the Temple University Beasley School of Law join to discuss whether mailing mifepristone violates the Comstock Act; if the FDA’s approval of the drug violated the Administrative Procedure Act; and if the district courts had jurisdiction to rule on these cases in the first place. Host Jeffrey Rosen moderates.   Resources   Order Granting in Part Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Washington v. FDA (E.D. Wa., Apr. 7, 2023)  Memorandum Opinion and Order, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA (N.D. TX., Apr. 7, 2023) Order, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA (5th Cir., Apr. 13, 2023) Thomas Jipping, “The Justice Department Is Wrong: Federal Law Does Prohibit Mailing Abortion Drugs,” Heritage Foundation Report (Feb. 2023) Rachel Rebouche (with David Cohen and Greer Donley), “The Plaintiffs Trying to Ban the Abortion Pill Admitted They Have No Case,” Slate (March 2023)  Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.    Continue today’s conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.    Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.    You can find transcripts for each episode on the podcast pages in our Media Library.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Judges in Texas and Washington State have handed down dueling decisions on the legality of mailing the abortion pill

0:06.9

Miffopriston, which is used in over 50% of abortions in the United States. In Texas, a district judge has invalidated the food and drug administration's

0:16.3

approval of Mepherestone for mailing, while in Washington a district judge ordered

0:21.0

the FDA to make no changes to the availability of MIFO-Pristone in 17 states.

0:27.2

Together, the two cases create a legal clash for the FDA, which means the cases may go to the Supreme Court.

0:36.0

Hello friends, I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center

0:40.0

and welcome to We The People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.

0:44.0

The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit,

0:48.0

charted by Congress to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.

0:53.8

In today's episode of We The People will break down the Texas and Washington decisions on

0:58.1

abortion pills.

0:59.4

We'll ask first if mailing Mepa Pristone violates the Comstock Act,

1:04.3

second, if the FDA's approval of the drug

1:06.4

violated the Administrative Procedure Act,

1:09.0

and third, if the courts had jurisdiction

1:11.6

to rule on these cases in the first place.

1:13.7

Joining us to help understand the legal stakes of these important cases are two leading

1:17.6

scholars of abortion law.

1:20.1

Thomas Jipping is Senior Legal Fellow for the Edwin Meese the third center for legal and judicial studies at the Heritage Foundation

1:26.8

He co-authored a report for the Heritage Foundation arguing that the federal law bars mailing abortion drugs.

1:34.0

Tom, welcome to We The People.

1:36.0

Thanks, Jeff. Great to be here.

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