Virginia Whole Woman’s Health Clinics sue FDA to shield mifepristone access

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - On Monday, May 8, Whole Woman’s Health Clinics in Charlottesville and Alexandria sued the FDA in order to shield access to the abortion pill mifepristone as the national legal conflict over the drug proceeds.

“We don’t back down we’re here for our patients and we’re here to continue to uplift access,” said Sean Mehl with Whole Woman’s Health Clinic. “This case to take on the FDA is really to offer protection in the states that were not a part of the democratic attorneys general suit.”

Virginia, Montana, and Kansas were not a part of the national lawsuit, so they filed separately to have protection from the ruling issued out of Texas, which is attempting to revoke mifepristone’s long-standing FDA approval.

“It’s under the guise of trying to withdraw that approval so that medication access will be disrupted,” Mehl said.

Mehl says Mifepristone has been the standard for abortions induced through medication for the past 20 years.

“It can be used for miscarriage management. In many cases, these may be patients who are not aware that they’re experiencing early pregnancy loss and they may come to us for care,” Mehl said.

Mehl says that medical abortions will continue as long as they can be prescribed legally and safely.

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