Life Legal filed an amicus brief this week in support of West Virginia’s Unborn Child Protection Act. The Act prohibits abortion from conception, with limited exceptions for sexual assault and medical emergencies. It was enacted shortly after the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs, which left abortion regulation to the states.
The FDA approved the abortion pill mifepristone in 2000 and has effectively deregulated the drug over the past two decades. As a result, the number of chemical abortions has increased substantially, with abortion drugs now accounting for over 60% of all abortions. Currently, two abortion pill manufacturers are vying for market share: Danco and GenBioPro. Danco was created by the eugenic Population Council in 2000 to produce mifepristone for abortions. Life Legal won a whistle-blower lawsuit against Danco last year, putting a significant dent in its profit margin.
In 2019, the FDA approved the generic version of mifepristone, which is made by GenBioPro. Since then, the company has sold approximately 850,000 units of the drug. As the only maker of the generic version of mifepristone, GenBioPro’s sole source of revenue is chemical abortion pills. With the increase in demand for abortion drugs in states where abortion is otherwise illegal and the stockpiling of mifepristone in abortion-friendly states, GenBioPro’s business is soaring. The company has no intention of letting any state interrupt this lucrative revenue stream.
Seeing West Virginia’s Unborn Child Protection Act as a threat to its profiteering, GenBioPro sued state officials last January. GenBioPro sought to strike down the law, arguing that only the FDA has the authority to regulate mifepristone and that states may not interfere with the distribution of abortion drugs. After its challenge was dismissed by the US District Court in West Virginia, GenBioPro appealed to the 4th Circuit US Court of Appeals in November 2023.
In our brief, we argue that throughout its history, “West Virginia has included strong protections for the life of unborn children from the point of fertilization.” Our brief exposes GenBioPro’s lawsuit as an attempt to evade the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs, which allows states to enact laws to protect children in the womb from every type of abortion – and that includes laws that prohibit abortion altogether.
GenBioPro asserts that Congress has a dominant federal interest in regulating mifepristone that precludes states from legislating in the same area. However, as our brief explains, “the overriding purpose of Congress was to ensure drug safety, not guarantee a right to or expand drug access under any and all circumstances.” Congress’s goal of ensuring drug safety does not conflict with or trump West Virginia’s interest in protecting the unborn. Indeed, Dobbs implicitly rejected federal pre-emption of abortion regulation when it expressly permitted states to “impose tight restrictions based on their belief that abortion destroys an unborn human being.”
Life Legal will never stop fighting to protect the vulnerable, especially innocent children in the womb. Please stand with us as we continue to expose the abortion industry’s murderous pursuit of profit at the expense of human lives. Together, let us vigorously oppose this callous disregard for human life.