The Trump administration is trying to rid itself of a lawsuit over access to the abortion drug mifepristone, arguing that the trio of states behind the legal challenge are fighting in the wrong court.
The challenge from Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas to the Food and Drug Administration’s safety decisions on mifepristone “should be dismissed or transferred for lack of venue,” the Trump administration said in a Monday filing with the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Monday’s brief stakes out the Trump administration’s position in a battle over access to mifepristone. Conservative physicians spurred the legal battle in 2022 after suing the Biden administration over the abortion drug. The case eventually made it to the US Supreme Court, which determined the physicians didn’t have standing to sue.
Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas took up the case at the lower court level.
In its filing, the Trump administration argued the states can’t lean on the physicians to meet the requirements to bring the case in the Texas federal court.
“The Supreme Court unanimously concluded that those plaintiffs lacked standing, and they have now voluntarily dismissed all of their claims. The States therefore cannot rely on those plaintiffs to satisfy venue requirements,” the Trump administration said.
Additionally, the Trump administration argued the states lack standing, noting that they “fail to identify any actual or imminent controversy over whether any of their laws are preempted.”
Other parties to the case are
President Donald Trump’s FDA commissioner, Marty Makary, previously said he didn’t plan to change government policy on mifepristone, though noted he would reconsider the issue if new data signaled safety issues.
The case is Missouri v. FDA, N.D. Tex., No. 2:22-cv-00223, brief filed 5/5/25.
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