DELAWARE - Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced Friday that Judge Thomas Rice of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington has issued an order reiterating that his injunction protecting access to mifepristone in 17 states, including Delaware, and Washington, D.C., remains in full force notwithstanding recent orders by two courts in Texas.
"Delaware is holding the line on safe and legal abortion access, including full access to mifepristone," said Jennings. "Our legislature has been working for years to protect and expand abortion access in our state... and our office remains resolute in the fight to protect reproductive rights, including, thanks to Judge Rice's ruling, uncompromised access to safe, effective medication used in the majority of Delaware's abortions."
Attorneys general from Maryland and Pennsylvania joined Delaware and 15 other states to partner on a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration. The suit accuses the administration of singling out mifepristone for "overly burdensome regulation, despite a rate of adverse effects lower than that of Tylenol or penicillin."
On April 7, Judge Rice issued an injunction barring the Food and Drug Administration from "altering the status quo and rights as it relates to the availability of mifepristone" in the states involved in Washington's lawsuit. The FDA filed a motion seeking clarification of Rice's decision in light of a potentially contradictory order from the North District of Texas, and Rice responded that his order applies regardless of Texas rulings in separate litigation.
A panel of judges in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order Thursday imposing restrictions on access to mifepristone. Rice's order clarifies that those restrictions do not apply to the states that filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Washington to preserve and expand access to abortion medication.
The Delaware Attorney General's office offers free, anonymous legal advice and service referrals through its abortion helpline at 302-992-8096 or online at de.gov/abortionhelpline.