Debevoise & Plimpton LLP has filed an amicus curiae brief in the Western District of Louisiana on behalf of many of the nation’s leading medical societies to protect access to mifepristone, a drug commonly used in medication abortion, as well as miscarriage care and other treatments. In 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) revised its Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (“REMS”) for mifepristone by removing the requirement that mifepristone be dispensed in person. This revision allowed patients to obtain the medication via mail or at a certified pharmacy. Despite the FDA’s evidence-based determination that mifepristone is just as safe without in-person dispensing, the State of Louisiana and Louisiana resident Rosalie Markezich (Plaintiffs) are challenging the FDA REMS and seeking to reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement.

Amici medical societies ask the Court to deny Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Relief, which seeks to stay the 2023 REMS and effectively demands a nationwide return to mandatory, in-person dispensing of mifepristone. In addition, amici ask the Court to grant in full Intervenor Danco Laboratories LLC’s Motion to Dismiss and Intervenor GenBioPro Inc.’s Motion in Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Relief.

The amicus brief underscores that mifepristone is a safe, effective, and essential part of reproductive health care—regardless of whether it is dispensed in person. The FDA’s decision to remove the in-person dispensing requirement is firmly based in the overwhelming medical evidence that mifepristone remains safe and effective when dispensed via mail and certified pharmacy. There is no contrary evidence that the removal of the in-person dispensing requirement has increased adverse health outcomes. Instead, limiting access to mifepristone impedes quality reproductive health care and exacerbates risks already associated with pregnancy and childbirth, particularly for patients of color, patients of low income, patients living with disabilities, and patients living in rural areas for whom travel for in-person dispensing can be a barrier to access.

The amicus brief was filed on behalf of the American College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine; the American Academy of Family Physicians; the American College of Physicians; the American College of Preventative Medicine; the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society; the American Society for Reproductive Medicine; the North American Society for Pediatric Adolescent Gynecology; the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine; the Society of General Internal Medicine; the Council of University Chairs of Obstetrics & Gynecology; the Society of Gynecologic Oncology; the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons; the Society of OB/GYN Hospitalists; and the American Medical Women’s Association.

The Debevoise team is led by litigation partner Shannon Rose Selden, counsel Kate Saba, and associate Nicole Marton, and includes associates Kaitlyn McGill and Isabel Gutenplan, along with law clerks Lizzy Cox and Liza Patterson.