Texas Sues Biden Administration Over Abortion Medication Guidance

Texas filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging the abortion medication guidance issued by the Biden administration in mid-July.

In the issued guidance, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reminded some 60,000 retail pharmacies in the country that they could be violating federal law if they turn away people who have a prescription for a drug that may end a pregnancy.

However, the lawsuit, filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a division of the state's Western District Court, argued that the policy violates the federal law and Constitution by using federal health programs to force pharmacies to carry abortion drugs even in states where abortion is banned, CNN reported.

The filing of the suit in Texas almost guarantees that it will fall before U.S. District Judge David Counts, a Trump-appointed judge. Since abortion is severely restricted in Texas, the lawsuit claimed that pharmacies that dispense abortion pills could be violating state law.

It also claimed that the Supreme Court's June 2022 Dobbs decision shows that the states can implement their own laws regarding governing abortion, and the federal government does not have a right to intervene, ABC News reported.

As CNN reported, the lawsuit stated that "by requiring pharmacies that receive Medicare and Medicaid funds - including retail pharmacies operated by Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center - to dispense abortifacients when the life of the mother is not in danger, the Pharmacy Mandate flouts Dobbs's holding that States may regulate abortion and directly infringes on Texas's sovereign and quasisovereign authority."

The HHS is the defendant in Texas' lawsuit. In a statement, Paxton said the Biden administration "knows that it has no legal authority to institute this radical abortion agenda, so now it's trying to intimidate every pharmacy" by threatening to withhold federal funds.

He added that Texas and several other states "have dutifully passed laws to protect the unborn, and they "are not going to back down just because unelected bureaucrats in Washington want to create illegal, extremist federal policies."

60 Anti-Abortion Bills Have Already Been Filed

In January, White House officials reported that 60 anti-abortion measures were filed in the 2023 legislative session. More than 26 million women in the U.S. have also been banned from obtaining a needed abortion.

Reuters reported that in a January statement of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it allowed mifepristone abortion pills to be more readily available at pharmacies and through the mail. However, abortion opponents have filed a lawsuit in a Texas federal court to overturn the approval of the medications.

Americans Allowed to Buy Mifepristone Abortion Pills Through Mail-Order

The FDA allowed Americans last month to order mifepristone abortion pills via mail-order or in retail stores like CVS or Walgreens, provided it's under a certified prescriber or a certified pharmacy, ABC News reported.

However, a group of 20 state attorneys general sent a letter to CVS and Walgreens, warning them that providing abortion pills by mail could be illegal. In November, a conservative legal group filed a lawsuit asking that the FDA revoke its approval of mifepristone and that the drug be pulled out from the market as it harms patients.

There would be a nationwide injunction on mifepristone that include states where abortion is legal once the Texas judge rules in favor of the plaintiffs.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Texas Lawsuit Could Place Nationwide Ban on Abortion Pill - Even Where Abortion Is Legal - From KHOU 11