West Virginia
US appeals court upholds West Virginia restriction on abortion pill sales
GenBioPro Inc., the country’s only manufacturer of a generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone, had argued that the state cannot block access to a FDA-approved drug. Chambers had dismissed the majority of GenBioPro’s challenges, finding there is ”no disputing that health, medicine, and medical licensure are traditional areas of state authority.”
Appeals judge DeAndrea Gist Benjamin concurred and dissented in part Tuesday, calling it a ”troubling opinion.”
”Put plainly, this law erects barriers to life-saving healthcare for countless West Virginians in ways not envisioned by Congress,” Benjamin wrote.
Not at issue in the appeal was a challenge by GenBioPro concerning a separate West Virginia law that stopped providers from prescribing mifepristone by telehealth. Chambers had allowed that challenge to proceed. The U.S. Supreme Court last year unanimously preserved access to mifepristone, which is used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. in 2023.