Supreme Court Allows Trump Administration to Create Broad Religious Exemptions to ACA Birth Control Benefit

I’ve known Cecile for years through our work in the reproductive rights space. Today, I remember my friend as a fierce and loving advocate for change.

AMARILLO, Texas — U.S. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas issued a ruling today permitting the attorneys general of Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri to continue litigating the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA case in his courtroom in Amarillo, Texas. The decision issued by the federal court in Texas comes after the Supreme Court’s June 2024 opinion holding that the anti-abortion groups that originally brought the Alliance case lacked legal standing to sue. The Biden administration’s Department of Justice sought to end the case altogether based on longstanding legal precedent making clear that a case must be dismissed if the original plaintiffs lacked standing. However, today’s ruling deems that briefing moot and requests further briefing on whether the case can proceed – which will now come from the Trump administration, as well as from a manufacturer of mifepristone that is also in the case defending FDA’s actions. Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri are expected to ask the court, which previously ruled to take mifepristone off the shelves nationwide in 2023, to issue another nationwide order imposing restrictions on mifepristone, including prohibiting patients from obtaining the medication via telehealth and then filling their prescription through a mail-order or local pharmacy. If they succeed, patients will be forced to travel hundreds, or even thousands, of miles to the nearest abortion provider just to be handed a pill. For many abortion patients, who are predominantly low-income parents, the costs and burdens of arranging transportation and childcare, securing time off work, and/or traveling without an abusive partner’s notice makes such travel extremely difficult or impossible. The attorneys general have indicated that they will also seek to withdraw FDA’s approval for the generic version of mifepristone that comprises two-thirds of the market; to withdraw FDA’s approval for mifepristone use by minors; and to prohibit nurse-practitioners and other qualified health care professionals from prescribing mifepristone, among other nationwide restrictions. Statement from Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Reproductive Freedom Project: “Once the Supreme Court found that the anti-abortion groups who brought the Alliance litigation never had a right to sue in the first place, this outrageous case should have been put to bed. Instead, the same Texas judge who already tried to take mifepristone off the market nationwide has left the door open for extremist politicians to continue attacking medication abortion in his courtroom. “The nation’s leading medical authorities describe mifepristone as one of the safest medicines available – safer than many drugs in your medicine cabinet right now. And even President-elect Trump walked back his attacks on abortion after realizing how overwhelmingly unpopular restricting abortion is with the American public. Today’s ruling means that President-elect Trump will have an early opportunity to either stay true to his word, or else instruct his Department of Justice to ignore the overwhelming scientific evidence and stop defending access to medication abortion. The American people will be watching. “The ACLU will continue fighting for medication abortion until everyone who needs this safe, essential health care can access it.” The ruling can be found here.

KANSAS CITY — Following the passage of Amendment 3, the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative, Missouri’s two Planned Parenthood providers filed suit to restore abortion access in the state. The lawsuit seeks to enjoin Missouri’s numerous abortion bans and countless burdensome, medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion that do not improve care or protect patient health. Missouri will be the first state with a post-Dobbs total abortion ban to approve and implement a state constitutional amendment making abortion a fundamental right. The lawsuit was filed by Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, represented by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the ACLU of Missouri, and the American Civil Liberties Union. In the lawsuit, reproductive health care providers seek to block a number of state laws that are now in conflict with the Missouri Constitution. The lawsuit, which was filed in the 16th Circuit Court of Jackson County, requests a preliminary injunction blocking the enforcement of some of the restrictions while the case proceeds, including: Multiple outright abortion bans, including: The first total abortion ban triggered by the Dobbs decision Cascading gestational age bans Bans that stigmatize and limit abortion care based on a patient’s reason for having an abortion TRAP laws that unfairly target abortion providers, including: Unnecessary facility requirements Hospital admitting privileges requirements Biased and medically inaccurate counseling requirements Forced delay periods that require patients to make multiple trips to a clinic for care A ban on the delivery of medication abortion by telemedicine A physician-only law that prevents qualified medical professionals from providing abortion care Criminal penalties for abortion providers If the requested preliminary relief is granted, Planned Parenthood’s health centers would be able to begin providing abortion in Missouri once more — restoring access to this constitutionally protected health care. "Missourians have spoken and we're ready to deliver," said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains. "There are many restrictions to challenge before access can be fully realized, but we're proud to continue this fight to make sure everyone in this state can have the safe, legal abortion care they deserve. And soon, when Missourians ask where they can get care, we’ll have a simple answer: right here at home." “Missourians have voted to build meaningful abortion access in their state, and our lawsuit is the next step toward that goal. Our patients and their access to the care they need have long been our north star; we see how abortion bans, TRAP laws, and political attacks have blocked them from care for far too long, said Richard Muniz, interim President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers. “Our organization was the last abortion provider in the state before the Dobbs decision, which then forced patients to take on the additional burden of traveling out of Missouri to see our providers in Illinois — where abortion is legal, safe, and free of excessive barriers. Our patients deserve every right to control their bodies, lives, and futures — and soon, they won’t have to cross state lines to do so. We are ready to provide safe, legal abortion in Missouri again.” “With this lawsuit, we are continuing the work of rebuilding abortion access in Missouri,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “Missourians have lived under layers of abortion restrictions for decades, including abortion bans that disproportionately endangered Black and Latino people in the state. Now is the time to peel those layers back and ensure that Missourians can make reproductive health decisions without politicians getting in the way. Planned Parenthood Federation of America is proud to fight alongside our affiliates in restoring abortion access, and we will continue to push for reproductive freedom for all Missourians.” The case, Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers v. State of Missouri, was brought within 24 hours of Missouri voters passing the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative, which appeared as Amendment 3 on the 2024 General Election ballot. The amendment creates and protects the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which is the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions. “Yesterday, Missourians voted to end Missouri’s abortion ban and protect reproductive freedom. Today’s lawsuit is the next step to fulfill the promise of the amendment,” said Tori Schafer, Director of Policy and Campaigns at the ACLU of Missouri. “This is a testament to all of the people who joined our grassroots coalition of organizations and volunteers, who tirelessly collected signatures, phone banked, and knocked on doors to give Missourians the opportunity to pass Amendment 3 at the ballot box.” Following the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, Missouri became the first state to enforce a total abortion ban, with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the woman’s health. However, a web of medically unnecessary restrictions, like a mandated 72-hour waiting period, invasive and unnecessary pelvic exams, and hospital-like facility requirements, had severely limited access to abortion in the state even before the Dobbs decision. For years Missouri had only three health centers in the state providing abortion care until unnecessary restrictions became too cumbersome, leaving just one health center at Planned Parenthood Great Rivers in St. Louis to provide abortion care from 2018 until the Dobbs decision triggered Missouri’s abortion ban. Read the full petition.

The ACLU, ACLU of Missouri, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America are representing Missouri’s two Planned Parenthood providers. Following the passage of Amendment 3, the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative, Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, filed suit to restore abortion access in the state. The suit seeks to enjoin Missouri’s numerous abortion bans and countless burdensome, medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion that do not improve care or protect patient health. If the requested preliminary relief is granted, Planned Parenthood’s health centers would be able to begin providing abortion in Missouri once more — restoring access to this constitutionally protected health care.