Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings announces that full protections remain intact in the state for the abortion pill at the center of court rulings around the country.
Jennings says a ruling by federal Judge Thomas Rice of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington reiterates his injunction protecting access to mifepristone in the District of Columbia and 17 states including Delaware.
Added to that ruling, the Supreme Court late Friday afternoon said it was temporarily keeping federal rules in place for the pill while it more fully considers issues raised in the Texas courts.
In an appeal of a separate Texas lawsuit, a panel of judges in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday imposed restrictions on access to mifepristone.
Delaware is a plaintiff state in a lawsuit filed in the federal court in the state of Washington against the Food & Drug Administration accusing it of singling out the pill for overly burdensome regulation.
“Delaware is holding the line on safe and legal abortion access — including full access to mifepristone,” said Attorney General Jennings. “Our legislature has been working for years to protect and expand abortion access in our state. Our grassroots advocates have stepped up to support Planned Parenthood, to form the First State Abortion Fund, and to help us establish the AG’s Abortion Helpline. And our office remains resolute in the fight to protect reproductive rights — including, thanks to Judge Rice’s ruling, uncompromised access to the safe, effective medication used in the majority of Delaware’s abortions. We will never stop fighting to protect the right to choose.”
Judge Rice issued an injunction on April 7 barring the FDA from altering the status quo and rights as it relates to mifepristone’s availability.
The FDA then filed a motion seeking clarification because of a potentially contradictory order from the Northern District of Texas – Rice responded that his order applies irrespective of the two rulings from the courts in Texas.
