Kansas abortion clinic sues FDA over access to mifepristone pills used in telemedicine
A Kansas abortion clinic is suing the Food and Drug Administration over access to telemedicine abortion pill mifepristone.
Trust Women, an abortion clinic in Wichita, joined providers from Montana and Virginia in the lawsuit against the FDA filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
The lawsuit by the Center for Reproductive Rights seeks to protect access to mifepristone amid legal turmoil. They have request a preliminary injunction preventing any changes to the status quo.
More: Kansas voters rejected Value Them Both. Republicans’ answer? Redefine ‘abortion.’
"The recent attacks on Mifepristone’s legal status are nothing but bad politics,” said Rebecca Tong, co-executive director of Trust Women, said in a statement. "The consequences of restricted access will be significant: our ability to meet the overwhelming demand for services will be challenged and patients will experience devastating wait times for appointments.
"All people should have meaningful local access to the fullest range of medical care supported by science — their ability to access quality care should not depend on where they live but on the principles of good medicine."
Kansas lawsuit seeks to protect access amid legal uncertainty
The lawsuit comes amid legal uncertainty in federal courts over access to mifepristone.
U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas had blocked FDA approval of the drug nationwide, but his order was blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court. That ongoing case seeks to undo the FDA approval of the drug two decades ago and pull the pills from the market.
A separate federal court case in Washington before U.S. District Court Judge Thomas O. Rice protects access to mifepristone there and in two other states as the case continues.
More: Dueling federal rulings plunge future of abortion pill into legal uncertainty
More: Medication abortions to remain available in Kansas, amid mifepristone legal battle
Trust Women's lawsuit seeks a similar ruling to the Washington one in order to protect mifepristone access in Kansas, which plaintiffs argue is important as surrounding states restrict or ban abortion. Before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, Trust Women had also offered abortions at its clinic in Oklahoma City.
“Today, we are filing this case to seek protection for patients and providers in Virginia, Kansas, and Montana — key states in post-Roe abortion access," Amy Hagstrom Miller, of Whole Woman's Health in Virginia, said in a statement. "So much of the coverage of the Mifepristone lawsuits has focused on federal judges or the courts; for us this is about our patients who are forced to travel hundreds of miles to the nearest clinic and about abortion providers in key border states who are doing all we can to help them."
More: ‘My baby's not gonna make it and neither am I’; Women flee Okla. for life-saving abortions
Trust Women wants to offer telemedicine abortion, mail mifepristone
The lawsuit states that Trust Women wants to restart its telehealth program and mail mifepristone to patients. That comes as Attorney General Kris Kobach has warned Walgreens and CVS pharmacies against mailing prescriptions for mifepristone.
"Trust Women Wichita is eager to restart its telemedicine clinic, including implementing direct to patient telehealth provision of mifepristone," the lawsuit states. "But Trust Women Wichita has paused these plans given the cloud of uncertainty over mifepristone."
The clinic has been engaged in litigation against the state since 2018 over whether it can legally offer telemedicine abortions.
The state law banning telemedicine abortion was blocked in November by Shawnee County District Court Judge Teresa Watson after the Kansas Court of Appeals last May reversed her previous ruling that denied a temporary injunction. Proceedings have been stayed in that case.
More: Kansas lawmakers override anti-abortion vetoes months after voters spurned Value Them Both
Trust Women provides medication abortion up to 11 weeks since the last menstrual period using mifepristone and misoprostol. The clinic also provides procedural abortion up to 21 weeks and six days, plus miscarriage management.
The lawsuit states that patients from rural and underserved communities depend on telehealth services to access abortion care, and Trust Women is suing on behalf of itself, its clinicians and its patients.
"Trust Women Wichita, which has experienced a huge surge in patients seeking care following the criminalization of abortion in neighboring states, is interested in starting a direct to patient telehealth program if able, and intended to develop a telemedicine program involving direct to patient provision of medication abortion when the present uncertainty around mifepristone began," the lawsuit states.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas abortion clinic Trust Women sues FDA over mifepristone access
