Trump asks federal court to hit pause on abortion pill case, citing ongoing study

Source: Politico

01/27/2026 06:31 PM EST


The Trump administration on Tuesday asked a federal court to put on hold a lawsuit from Louisiana seeking sweeping national restrictions on abortion pills while the Food and Drug Administration reviews the safety of the drug and decides whether or not to roll back access.

The court filing stresses that the Trump administration is actively considering whether to keep current federal rules in place that allow access to the abortion pill mifepristone via telemedicine, mail delivery, and retail pharmacies. Allowing Louisiana’s lawsuit to move forward before that process is complete, the Justice Department argued, would “threaten to short circuit” sensitive regulatory and scientific work.

The Trump administration’s brief filed Tuesday also argues that Louisiana lacks standing, and disputes the state’s argument that the FDA’s policies around the pills have caused “sovereign harm” by enabling patients to obtain the drugs despite the state’s ban on all methods of abortion. The state should sue doctors that prescribe the pills across state lines, rather than the Trump administration, the brief suggests.

Yet the federal lawyers also stressed that the lawsuit itself “may prove as unnecessary as it is disruptive” since the FDA may decide on its own to impose the restrictions Louisiana is demanding — citing the review of the drugs’ safety that FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have both said is now underway. Additionally, the brief warns, allowing Louisiana’s challenge to move forward could set a precedent that allows lawsuits from progressive states seeking looser regulation of the pills to advance.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/27/trump-asks-federal-court-to-hit-pause-on-abortion-pill-case-citing-ongoing-study-00750658?utm_content=topic/medicine&utm_source=flipboard