In State of Louisiana v. Food and Drug Administration, (5th Cir., May 1, 2026), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a preliminary injunction staying the FDA's 2023 ruling that removed the requirement that the abortion drug mifepristone be prescribed only after an in-person visit with a doctor. The FDA ruling permitted out-of-state doctors to prescribe mifepristone which could be delivered by mail. The district court refused to stay the FDA action because the FDA was conducting its own review of its 2023 action. The 5th Circuit disagreed. First, it held that Louisiana has standing to challenge the FDA's action, saying in part:
... [T]he agency’s 2023 REMS causes “federal interference with the enforcement of [Louisiana] law,” which gives Louisiana standing to challenge it...
Louisiana provided hard evidence linking thousands of dollars in Medicaid costs to care stemming from out-of-state mifepristone. As the district court correctly held, that “alone [is] sufficient to establish Louisiana’s standing.”...
Every abortion facilitated by FDA’s action cancels Louisiana’s ban on medical abortions and undermines its policy that “every unborn child is human being from the moment of conception and is, therefore, a legal person.” La. Stat. Ann. § 40:1061.1(A)(1) (2022). Once lost, that sovereign prerogative of protecting unborn life cannot be regained by legal remedy. And because FDA “is entitled to sovereign immunity,”... Louisiana’s financial harms are also irremediable.
... [T]he agency “essentially acknowledged APA procedural deficits with respect to mifepristone” by “stating that [its] intention to review the mifepristone regulatory framework was precipitated by ‘the lack of adequate consideration underlying the prior REMS approvals.’”
Based on the same defects, our court has previously concluded that FDA’s actions here were likely unlawful....
ADF issued a press release announcing the decision. [Thanks to Thomas Rutledge for the lead.]