Abortion Bans will bankrupt Abortion Pill Manufacturers
2023.01.25 11:36
Abortion Bans will bankrupt Abortion Pill Manufacturers
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – In the first lawsuits of its kind since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal constitutional right to abortion, a doctor and the maker of abortion pills have challenged state restrictions on the medication.
GenBioPro Inc. stated in a complaint filed in Huntington, West Virginia, federal court that the state cannot override the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, the first drug in a two-drug regimen for medication abortions, in order to prohibit the drug.
Amy Bryant, a doctor, filed a separate lawsuit in federal court in Durham, North Carolina, challenging state-imposed restrictions on acquiring mifepristone, which she claimed prevented her from treating patients.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, many states have made it much harder or impossible to have an abortion.
The West Virginia pill ban enacted in September under the state’s Virginia’s Unborn Child Protection Act, according to GenBioPro, which sells a generic version of mifepristone, “conflicts with the strong national interest in ensuring access to a federally approved medication to end a pregnancy.”
According to the lawsuit, the ban is in violation of the Commerce Clause and the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, which prohibit states from impeding interstate commerce and give federal laws precedence over state laws that conflict with one another.
Bryant objected to North Carolina’s requirements that patients receive counseling at least 72 hours before having an abortion and only obtain abortion pills in person from physicians in facilities that have been specifically certified.
She claimed in her lawsuit:
“Interfere with her ability to provide medical care to her patients according to her best medical judgment and in accordance with federal law,”
Both North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein’s and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Stein is a Democrat, while Morrisey is a Republican.
The New York Times reported on the West Virginia lawsuit earlier, and ABC News reported on the North Carolina lawsuit.
U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia, No. GenBioPro Inc v. Sorsaia et al. 23-00058; and Bryant v. Stein et al., United States District Court, Middle District of North Carolina, No. 23-00077.
