Florida and Texas have filed a petition to join a federal lawsuit challenging federal approval and expanded access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
The states argue that the medication poses serious health risks and undermines their laws requiring parental consent and in-person medical oversight.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier also highlighted that the state’s six-week abortion restriction could be compromised by widespread access to mailed pills.
“We are aware of a lot of harms that women and oftentimes young girls are experiencing when they subject themselves to these medications,” Uthmeier said Wednesday during a press conference in Tampa.
“Oftentimes, these medications are sent into the state from out of state and can get into the hands of minors. Now, we’ve got serious concerns about Florida’s parental consent laws, heartbeat protection laws, you name it. Obviously, people can read the complaint and see all of our arguments, but at the end of the day we believe this is dangerous.”
The lawsuit, initiated in 2020 by anti-abortion doctors and advocacy groups, contends that the Food and Drug Administration improperly approved mifepristone and later eased restrictions without adequate review.
This year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled some original plaintiffs lacked standing, but Missouri, Kansas and Idaho revived the case as intervenors.
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Florida and Texas argue that the states may no longer effectively represent their interests: Missouri's abortion ban was nullified by a 2024 constitutional amendment, Idaho's is vulnerable to a 2026 referendum, and Kansas courts upheld a broad abortion right.
Florida and Texas also cited “shield law” protections in states like New York that allow out-of-state providers to send abortion pills without facing penalties.
Mifepristone, approved by the FDA in 2000, is used in combination with another medication, misoprostol, to end early pregnancies. Side effects can include heavy bleeding, infection, incomplete abortion, hospitalization, and, in rare cases, death.
In the filing, Florida and Texas officials point to studies suggesting complications from mifepristone are more common than the FDA reports.
One analysis found that nearly 11% of women experienced serious health complications such as infection, hemorrhage or sepsis within 30 days of taking the pill. This is about 22 times higher than the FDA's reported adverse event rate of less than 0.5%. Another study indicated that 6.3% of patients required follow-up surgery due to complications.
The FDA and leading medical organizations dispute these studies, stating that serious complications occur in fewer than 1% of patients. Over 20 years and 5 million users, the drug has maintained a strong safety record, with complications far less common than with many other prescription medications, the FDA reports.
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More than 20 Republican-led states, including Florida and Texas, support efforts to limit abortion pills. Democratic-led states counter that restricting mifepristone undermines FDA authority and could destabilize the drug approval system nationwide.
A federal judge in Amarillo, Texas, will decide whether Florida and Texas can formally join the case. If allowed, their involvement could strengthen the challenge to FDA authority and extend court battles over medication abortion — already the most common method in the U.S. — for months or even years.
