FIRST ON FOX: Top Republicans take abortion pill fight to Supreme Court, citing coercion and safety risks

By Fox News · Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: More than 100 Republican lawmakers are urging the Supreme Court to reinstate abortion pill restrictions, warning current policy allowing mifepristone to be mailed without in-person oversight has led to cases of women being coerced — and in some instances allegedly forced — to take the drug. The amicus brief, led by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., Senate Majority Leader John Thune , R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., backs Louisiana’s legal fight to restore an in-person dispensing requirement for the drug. At the center of the filing are allegations that loosened federal rules have enabled coercion, with lawmakers arguing the Biden-era policy "increases the risk of coercion," referring to changes to the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) that removed the in-person requirement. The brief points to several alleged cases in which abortion pills were obtained online or administered without a woman’s consent, including plaintiff Rosalie Markezich, who says her boyfriend ordered mifepristone from a California doctor and coerced her into taking it. ABORTION PILL MIFEPRISTONE SPARKS NEW PRO-LIFE DEBATE AS SOME DOCTORS STRESS SAFETY CONCERNS "Had she visited a doctor in person, her boyfriend would never have been able to obtain the drugs he made [her] take," the brief says. Lawmakers also cite additional reported incidents, including a case in which a Louisiana mother allegedly obtained abortion pills online for her teenage daughter, leading to a medical emergency, as well as another case involving a man accused of administering the drugs to a pregnant woman without her knowledge. Lawmakers argue such cases are more likely under a system that allows abortion pills to be prescribed online and shipped without face-to-face medical screening. ‘ABORTION PILL’ FOUND TO HAVE ‘SEVERE ADVERSE EFFECTS’ FOR 1 IN 10 WOMEN, STUDY FINDS They say the policy not only weakens safeguards but puts women at risk while removing prot…