By Carrie Baker for Ms. Magazine.
Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the Ms. Magazine-Public News Service Collaboration

On Nov. 18, anti-abortion advocates filed a federal lawsuit challenging the FDA approval of the medication mifepristone in 2000-as well as subsequent updates to the approval in 2016, 2019 and most recently in December 2021, when the agency began allowing clinicians to mail abortion pills to their patients.

The lawsuit alleges the FDA did not have proof of the medication's safety, despite extensive evidence showing abortion pills are safe and effective-more so than many other medications, including over the counter drugs such as Tylenol.

"This is yet another attempt by anti-abortion extremists to force their beliefs on all of us," said Kirsten Moore, director of Expanding Medication Abortion Access Project (EMAA Project), which advocates for increased access to mifepristone for abortion and miscarriage care.

The conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed the lawsuit on behalf of four antiabortion medical organizations and several doctors against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ADF represented Mississippi in the case that led the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade and they have helped draft anti-abortion laws adopted in many states.

The 113-page complaint argues the FDA unlawfully fast-tracked the approval of mifepristone in 2000 and did not have the required research to prove the safety of the drug under the labeled conditions of use.

To the contrary, a 2018 Government Accountability Office report concluded that the FDA "followed its standard review process when it approved the application ... for the drug Mifeprex" and "based its approval on reviews of peer-reviewed published studies, articles, and other information submitted by Mifeprex's sponsor." The FDA subsequently conducted extensive reviews of the mifepristone's safety again in 2016.

The ADF complaint regurgitates many of the objections raised by anti-abortion groups to the 2021 modification of the mifepristone approval. The FDA published a 40-page rebuttal letter to these objections, which ADF fails to address in their complaint.

Moore said the anti-abortion movement is trying to "put the genie back into the bottle" and is "trying to undo progress."

"When they look at the courts, they think, 'Why wouldn't the courts be friendly to us even if we are making new things up?' The Supreme Court just overturned a 50-year precedent that took away half the population's fundamental right to control their bodies, so why wouldn't they try?"

The ADF chose to file the case in the Amarillo Division of the Northern District of Texas, where it was assigned to a 45-year-old Trump appointee Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, who for five years before becoming a federal judge was deputy general counsel for First Liberty Institute, a Christian conservative legal organization that specializes in representing religious groups claiming they have experienced discrimination.

n 2015, Kacsmaryk wrote an op-ed for the National Catholic Register stating his opposition to same-sex marriage, no-fault divorce, birth control, abortion and sex outside of marriage-and his support for "complementarianism," a religious belief that assigns primary headship roles to men and support roles to women based on their interpretation of certain biblical passages.

"He is an anti-LGBT activist and culture warrior who does not respect the equal dignity of all people," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) during his Senate confirmation hearing, reading from a letter of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. "His record reveals a hostility to LGBT equality and to women's health, and he would not be able to rule fairly and impartially in cases involving those issues."

Just last week Kacsmaryk ruled that the Biden administration wrongly interpreted a provision of the Affordable Care Act as barring healthcare providers from discriminating against LGBTQ+ Americans.

Texas is within the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has a majority of conservative judges-six of whom were appointed by Trump. This same court repeatedly upheld the Texas bounty hunter law last year.

Most shockingly, the ADF lawsuit asks Judge Kacsmaryk to revive the 1873 Comstock Law, which banned sending obscene literature, contraceptives, abortifacients or any sexual information through U.S. mails. After the Supreme Court ruled in Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965 that people have a fundamental right to access and use contraception, Congress removed the language concerning contraception in 1971, but left the part of the law criminalizing mailing abortifacients and information about abortion.

Before Roe v. Wade, federal courts ruled this part of the law applied only to "unlawful" abortions. After the Roe decision, the Comstock law remained on the books but was not enforced. Now that the Supreme Court has reversed Roe, ADF hopes to bring the law back into effect.

"The law that conservatives used to shut down contraceptive pills at the turn of the century-this is where they want to take us back to," said Moore.

The lawsuit seeks to reverse the increasing availability of medication abortion and telemedicine abortion. In 2020, medication abortion accounted for 54 percent of all pregnancy terminations in the U.S. After a federal court lifted the FDA requirement that clinicians distribute the medication in person in July of 2020, telemedicine abortion services surged across the United States, becoming available in 20 states, expanding further after the FDA permanently lifted the in-person distribution requirement in December of 2021.

Carrie Baker wrote this article for Ms. Magazine.

In the final days of the legislative session, Kentucky Senate lawmakers could consider the "Momnibus" bill, which would increase access to critical prenatal and post-birth care for new moms and babies.

House Bill 10 would extend the state's voluntary home-visitation program for expectant parents to when a child reachs age three, and would include lactation assistance and telehealth.

Bonnie Logsdon, a board-certified lactation consultant and birth doula, said many women have to return to work a few weeks after giving birth and often lack the tools or knowledge to have a positive lactation experience.

"They need access to those quality supplies," she stressed, "and they need someone who can teach them how to use the pump, which is again where that lactation support would come into play."

The Momnibus bill would add pregnancy to the list of qualifying life events, so pregnant people could get health-insurance coverage and begin prenatal care visits.

Kentucky has the second-highest maternal mortality rate in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The bill would also expand mental-health counseling through the Lifeline for Moms Psychiatry Access Program.

In Letcher County, Courtney Rhoades said she's had a complex pregnancy, and has struggled to cope with stress and maintaining her physical health. She noted it's critical that first-time moms like herself have a place to turn for support, where they don't feel judged.

"Then to be finding out we're having twins," Rhoades said, "I am really excited to know that there's these programs available that otherwise I didn't know about."

Renee Basham, executive director of Hope's Embrace, said communities increasingly are aware of the role doulas can play in pre- and post-natal care. She added many of her clients need assistance.

"A lot of the clients that we work with, some of them have support, a lot of them don't," said Basham. "Doulas are extra important in that role, because if we weren't there, they wouldn't have anybody with them as they gave birth."

House Bill 10 would open the door to more research on the role of doulas in the birth experience, and how their expertise is being used for care and to reduce disparities in the Commonwealth.


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Advocates for women veterans, who've experienced sexual trauma while serving in the military, are asking state lawmakers for much-needed funding.

Previous legislation backed the creation of two sexual trauma liaisons at community-based organizations in the state, but funding never came to fruition.

Executive Director of the Augusta-based Sisters-in-Arms Center, Rebecca Cornell du Houx, said lawmakers have a chance to help veteran survivors rebuild their lives.

"To have a consistent clinician there to provide that trauma treatment to the woman veteran in a place that they're safe," said Cornell du Houx, "I think, can really, really support their recovery."

Cornell du Houx said one in three women soldiers experience some form of sexual trauma while in the military but many incidents go unreported.

There are more than 10,000 women veterans currently living in Maine.

Women veterans are one of the fastest-growing sectors of the homeless population, and are four times more likely to become homeless than their male peers.

Researchers also now identify military sexual trauma as the biggest factor driving a more than 60% increase in suicide rates among women veterans since 2001.

Cornell du Houx said while group therapy is available to these veterans, state funding would provide for more formalized treatment - especially for those coming off active-duty.

"I think if people knew the stories of what had happened to these women while they were in the service, just really disheartening stories of assault," said Cornell du Houx, "I think that they wouldn't hesitate to fund a position so that they could get help."

Cornell du Houx said sexual trauma is most prevalent among lower-ranking seventeen and eighteen-year-olds, who are influenced to think that reporting an incident is a betrayal of a fellow soldier.

She said it's important to support those who have come forward, to advocate for themselves and others, and who took an oath to serve their country.





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New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is sounding the alarm over the Supreme Court's decision to hear a case that could restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone.

It is the first major case related to women's reproductive rights since the Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

On Tuesday, after hearing oral arguments, the Court seemed likely to preserve access to the medication.

Cortez Masto said the country has witnessed what she calls "the tragic consequences of abortion restrictions," which started with the country's highest court.

"This just goes to show you," said Cortez Masto, "far-right extremists are going to stop at nothing to restrict women's rights when it comes to their reproductive freedom - that is why we can't give up."

Cortez Masto contended mifepristone is safe and effective and is also critical for miscarriage care.

But the case presented to the Supreme Court by anti-abortion doctors claim the Food and Drug Administration acted too quickly in removing restrictions on the drug.

If the court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, mifepristone access could stop immediately in all states - including those where abortion is legal such as Nevada.

Critics of the drug say it carries significant side effects, include bacterial infections and prolonged, heavy menstrual bleeding.

While mifepristone may not be prohibited all together, restrictions on the pill could be reinstated.

Cortez Masto argued conservative groups never planned to stop with just repealing Roe v. Wade, but adds they are aiming to roll back women's rights all together.

"That is why we can't give up," said Cortez Masto. "We have to continue to use our voices and be advocates to fight for women's rights."

The Supreme Court could make a decision on the case in June.

In the Silver State, a coalition is working to get an amendment on the ballot this November to enshrine abortion rights in the Silver State's constitution.