Attorney General Alan Wilson joins effort to block abortion drugs sent through the mail

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has joined 21 other states in filing a brief in support of Louisiana’s lawsuit challenging a Biden-era rule that expanded access to abortion drugs through mail and telehealth, despite contrary state laws.

“This is about protecting life, but it’s also about state sovereignty,” Attorney General Wilson said. “What good does it do for one state to pass a law banning something, like chemical abortion drugs, if another state is still allowed to mail them into our state?”

The case challenges a 2023 Food and Drug Administration action that removed long-standing safeguards on the chemical abortion drug mifepristone and allowed doctors in one state to prescribe abortion pills to patients in another. South Carolina’s friend-of-the-court brief argues that the rule unlawfully overrides state laws protecting unborn life and intrudes on states’ sovereign authority following the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs.

South Carolina’s brief explains that the Biden-era rule effectively permits states like California and New York to set abortion policy for pro-life states by enabling telehealth prescriptions that state law prohibits. It also details the real-world consequences of the rule, including increased strain on state health systems and Medicaid programs. The case is pending in federal court in Louisiana, where the plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to block the FDA rule.

Joining South Carolina on the Nebraska-led brief were attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

You can read their brief here.