Press Releases
01/31/2024
Attorney General Tong Files Supreme Court Amicus Brief Defending Access to Medication Abortion
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today joined a multistate coalition of 24 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court defending access to medication abortion.
The brief supports efforts by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Danco Laboratories LLC to reverse a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reinstating medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone. The decision reversed actions by the FDA since 2016 appropriately allowing medication abortion drug mifepristone to be taken later in pregnancy, to be mailed directly to patients, and allowing the drug to be prescribed by qualified clinicians other than a doctor.
“Medication abortion is safe, legal and accessible in Connecticut today. But we cannot, and do not, take that for granted. We have been fighting this partisan attack at every stage of the legal process, including filing our own case in Washington State. I urge the Supreme Court to respect decades of solid medical evidence and let patients and doctors live their lives and do their jobs free from political meddling,” said Attorney General Tong.
The brief filed by attorneys general compliments the brief filed by the governors of 22 states, including Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont.
Since 2000 when the FDA approved mifepristone as a single-dose oral medication used for early-term abortions, it has safely been used by about five million people to terminate pregnancy and manage miscarriages, and is used in more than half of all abortions today. In 2021, there were 9,562 abortions performed in Connecticut. Of those, nearly 64 percent were medication abortion using mifepristone. Years of research have continued to prove mifepristone’s safety and efficacy.
The coalition notes that if the Fifth Circuit’s decision is permitted to take effect, it could disrupt access to the most common method of abortion, harming countless Americans in need of medical care or pregnancy loss management, with widespread disruptions for the health care system. Among other things, the lower court decision could lead many individuals to undergo procedural abortion, drive up risks, costs, and delays, and deprive many Americans of access to reproductive health care altogether. The coalition further argues that the ruling would create widespread confusion among providers, distributors, and pharmacies, and radically destabilize the regulatory process for drug approvals, stifling scientific innovation and imperiling the development and availability of thousands of drugs nationwide.
This brief is the latest action taken by Attorney General Tong to safeguard reproductive freedom here in Connecticut and nationwide.
Since the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Attorney General Tong has led and joined numerous efforts to protect abortion rights, including filing amicus briefs in cases across the country where abortion access and reproductive rights have been threatened.
Connecticut has gone on offense, filing a lawsuit in federal court in Washington State to protect medication abortion by challenging unnecessary and burdensome restrictions on mifepristone use. Attorney General Tong issued a formal opinion last year ensuring there would be no ambiguity as to patients’ rights to access abortion, providers’ ability to prescribe mifepristone, and the state’s ability to cover mifepristone under its Medicaid program.
Attorney General Tong also created the position of Special Counsel for Reproductive Rights within the Office of the Attorney General to protect abortion access and reproductive care both in Connecticut and anywhere those rights are challenged across the country.
Joining Attorney General Tong in submitting today’s amicus brief are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
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