Court Deals Blow to Lawsuit from Abortion Drug Manufacturer
All women and girls deserve protection, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade ensured that states can provide this protection by enacting laws that safeguard women and girls from dangerous chemical abortion drugs.
But in West Virginia, a major pharmaceutical company is prioritizing profit over safety and challenging laws that enact commonsense safeguards around these dangerous drugs. West Virginia’s laws protecting women and girls are both constitutional and necessary, so Alliance Defending Freedom is helping defend the laws in court.
What is GenBioPro?
GenBioPro is a highly profitable company that manufactures only one drug: the dangerous chemical abortion drug mifepristone. Its business model relies on selling as many chemical abortion drugs as possible, which is why the company is fighting West Virginia laws that protect women from these dangerous drugs.
According to GenBioPro’s own website, it exists to provide chemical abortion drugs to “all people – regardless of income, gender, race, or geography.” The company has prioritized profits and ignored safety risks by continually pushing unsafe drugs to anyone who will buy them.
GenBioPro v. Sorsaia
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved chemical abortion drugs for use in America with minimal restrictions in 2000. It failed to properly assess the many risks when it approved these drugs, putting women and girls in danger. ADF has challenged the FDA’s approval of these dangerous drugs in court. (You can read more about that lawsuit here.)
In 2016, the FDA made the problem even worse by extending chemical abortion from seven weeks’ gestation up to 10 weeks’ gestation, changing the drugs’ dosage and route of administration, reducing the number of required in-person office visits for women seeking the drugs from three to one, allowing people who are not medical doctors to prescribe the drugs, and eliminating the requirement for prescribers to report complications from the drugs unless the mother actually dies.
In 2021, the FDA announced what it claimed was a temporary change suspending the requirement for women to have in-person office visits before being prescribed chemical abortion drugs. Later that year, it made the change permanent, meaning women can currently be prescribed dangerous abortion drugs via telehealth and receive them in the mail.
While distributing abortion drugs in any capacity is extremely dangerous, the requirements that were originally in place at least provided some level of protection for women and girls. By eviscerating these safeguards, the FDA has shown a blatant disregard for safety.
In Dobbs, the Supreme Court empowered all 50 states to protect life. As a result, West Virginia passed a new law called the Unborn Child Protection Act. The law protects unborn babies at all stages of development.
In the same bill, West Virginia amended previous law to clarify that non-licensed medical professionals cannot perform abortions under any circumstances, nor can they prescribe chemical abortion drugs. The amended law also required that doctors dispense chemical abortion drugs in person rather than through the mail, just as the FDA required prior to 2021.
West Virginia has every right to determine its own abortion laws thanks to the Court’s decision in Dobbs. But because these laws threatened GenBioPro’s profits, the drug manufacturer sued the state without any legal basis.
GenBioPro’s lawsuit falsely claims that the FDA’s approval of chemical abortion drugs supersedes West Virginia’s right to make its own abortion laws that protect women, girls, and unborn children. Since this claim runs directly counter to the law, ADF asked a federal district court to dismiss the baseless lawsuit.
What’s at stake?
States have the right to pass laws that promote the welfare of their citizens. West Virginia’s laws do just that, protecting women, girls, and unborn children from chemical abortion drugs. Many other states have similar laws.
But if GenBioPro has its way, states will no longer be able to implement necessary safety protocols to protect their citizens from dangerous chemical abortion drugs. West Virginia’s laws should be enforced.
Case timeline
- January 2023: GenBioPro filed a lawsuit falsely claiming that the FDA’s approval of chemical abortion drugs supersedes West Virginia’s right to pass its own abortion laws.
- February 2023: ADF asked a federal district court to dismiss the unfounded lawsuit.
- August 2023: The district court partially dismissed GenBioPro’s challenge to pro-life laws in West Virginia. The court said the only pro-life protection that GenBioPro can challenge is the law requiring women to see a physician in person before obtaining chemical abortion drugs.
The bottom line
West Virginia’s laws protect the health, safety, and welfare of women and girls from dangerous chemical abortion drugs. Major chemical abortion drug manufacturers can’t ignore state laws protecting women and girls just to bolster their business.