AUGUSTA –Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey today joined a multistate coalition to challenge the decision issued by a district court judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas that could restrict medication abortion access nationwide.

The amicus brief, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, urges the court to stay pending appeal the district court’s ruling, which if allowed to take effect would halt the over two-decade old approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of the medication abortion drug, mifepristone, according to a news release from the Maine A.G.’s office.

Frey and the coalition of 24 attorneys general warn that revoking federal approval for mifepristone will drastically reduce access to safe abortion care and miscarriage management for millions of people across the country, endangering lives and trampling states’ authority to protect and promote access to abortion.  

“We know mifepristone is a safe, time-tested medication that has vastly improved access to abortion care,” said Attorney General Frey, in the release. “This is a ruling about control – not about safety. My office and I will continue to use every legal tool available to us to ensure reproductive freedom for Maine citizens.”  

The ruling comes in a challenge brought by anti-abortion groups seeking to revoke the FDA’s approval of mifepristone.

On April 7, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to stay its approval of mifepristone, which happened in 2000.

The court’s order does not take effect immediately, as the district court put its ruling on hold for seven days to give the federal government and the drug manufacturer an opportunity to appeal.

“The coalition urges the appeals court to continue to stay the lower court’s unprecedented and legally erroneous decision pending the appeal, given the decades of clinical research and studies that have confirmed mifepristone’s safety and the critical role medication abortion plays in reproductive health care, particularly in low-income, underserved, and rural communities,” the release said.

The coalition said that if the lower court decision takes effect, it could drastically curtail abortion access for millions of Americans. Mifepristone has been particularly critical in providing access to safe abortion care in low-income, underserved, and rural communities. According to current estimates, medication abortion accounts for over half, approximately 54 percent, of all abortions performed in the United States. Obstructing access to mifepristone would significantly increase demand for procedural abortions, resulting in later and more risky procedures, and more complicated and costly logistics for many patients, especially those where procedural abortion is unavailable, the release said.

Moreover, lack of access to safe abortion care leads to worsened health outcomes and higher mortality, especially for Black women, the coalition said/

Last month, Maine joined as a plaintiff in State of Washington, et al. v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, et al., pending in the federal court in Washington.  

On April 7, 2023, the judge in that case entered an order enjoining the FDA from altering the availability of mifepristone in those states that are parties to the lawsuit.  Maine’s participation in this case may insulate the State from the effects of the Texas decision and any subsequent Fifth Circuit appeal. 

Joining Attorney General Frey in filing today’s amicus brief are the attorneys general of New York, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.