Attorney General Alan Wilson asks Supreme Court to uphold mifepristone stay

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – Today, Attorney General Alan Wilson joined multiple 23-state friend-of-the-court briefs asking the Supreme Court to leave in place a lower court’s stay of a federal regulation that removed the longstanding in-person dispensing requirement for the chemical abortion drug mifepristone. The regulation, issued in 2023 by the Biden-era FDA, has the practical effect of allowing non-South Carolina doctors to prescribe mifepristone to patients and ship that drug across state lines to women in South Carolina.

“This rule from the FDA is just another example of the government overreach by the Biden administration,” Attorney General Wilson said. “But this rule has wide-ranging and dangerous effects on citizens in every state. Doctors in other states should not be able to circumvent our state law by shipping mifepristone across state lines.”

The brief was filed in support of Louisiana, which is suing the federal Food and Drug Administration, arguing that the rule removing the in-person dispensing requirement was not based on sound science and thus procedurally flawed. The FDA has admitted the 2023 rule is likely unlawful, and it’s currently conducting a review of mifepristone’s safety and efficacy.

If the Supreme Court upholds the stay, mifepristone will remain available to South Carolina patients who comply with the regulatory requirements of state law, which include in-person prescription and administration.

“As Attorney General, I have supported reforms at the state and federal level to reclassify mifepristone and outlaw telehealth abortions,” Attorney General Wilson stated. “I will continue the fight to ensure South Carolina protects life and doesn't allow out-of-state abortionists to violate our laws."

Attorney General Wilson joined the Nebraska-led briefs along with the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

You can read the briefs here and here.