Washington, DC — Democratic Attorneys General are using every tool they have to protect medication abortion access. Following dueling court rulings surrounding the future of access to the abortion pill mifepristone, a federal judge in Washington state ruled yesterday that “the Food and Drug Administration cannot roll back access to abortion pills in 17 states and the District of Columbia, regardless of the conflicting orders issued in other federal courts,” as Axios’ Oriana González reports. This follows last week’s victory in a case brought by 18 Democratic Attorneys General, led by Washington AG Bob Ferguson and Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum, who won a preliminary injunction that will help millions of Americans continue to have access to mifepristone.

Axios continues, “The availability of mifepristone, used for medication abortion, hinged on dueling court decisions — one that adds restrictions to the medication and the Washington state one, which says that suspending access to the drug alters the ‘status quo.’”

AG Ferguson told Axios, “The restrictions imposed by the Fifth Circuit’s radical decision do not impair access to mifepristone in the 18 states that are a part of our coalition…The Washington injunction is unmistakably clear: No changes to the status quo in our states — period. The Fifth Circuit’s ruling does nothing to change Judge Rice’s order, and that became even clearer today.”

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