A lawsuit in January was filed against the state of North Carolina over mandates that put restrictions on the abortion pills.
But state Attorney General Josh Stein is refusing to defend the restrictions in court. Rather, he intends to argue that the plaintiff is right.
Which means that if the Republicans in the legislature want their restrictions defended, they will have to intervene in the lawsuit.
Here’s more via Fox News:
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein won’t defend state restrictions on dispensing abortion pills that are being challenged in a lawsuit and instead will argue the restrictions are preempted by federal regulations protecting access to the pills, Stein’s office said Monday.
The decision by Stein, a Democrat, means Republican legislative leaders who want to keep the restrictions would have to seek to formally intervene in the federal lawsuit, which was filed by Amy Bryant, a physician who prescribes the drug mifepristone.
The lawsuit filed in January in U.S. District Court in Durham, and a separate lawsuit challenging limits on abortion pills in West Virginia, are considered the openings of legal battles over access to the medications. A Texas lawsuit poses a threat to the nationwide availability of medication abortion, which now accounts for the majority of abortions in the U.S. The case filed by abortion opponents seeks to reverse FDA approval of mifepristone.
Bryant’s lawsuit seeks to block enforcement of state laws and rules that it says interferes with the ability to provide mifepristone to patients. The lawsuit cites the authority that Congress gave to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate the FDA-approved drug.
North Carolina laws require the pill must be dispensed in person after a 72-hour waiting period, the lawsuit says, and only after patients receive state-mandated counseling and in some cases an ultrasound.
Stein, who supports abortion rights and is running for governor next year, is a defendant in the lawsuit along with a district attorney and state health and medical officials. Stein and state Department of Justice attorneys are tasked with defending state laws in court.
I hate that the pill even exists, but these restrictions are necessary to combat leftist propaganda. A mother needs to know that the pill she’s about to take isn’t just getting rid of tissue, but is killing her unborn child. An ultrasound would quickly show that and should be mandated in all situations.
It’s better for a mother to find this out before she kills her baby than afterward, when there’s nothing she can do about it.
I hope Republicans successfully dispute this challenge and uphold the legislature’s authority to regulate these horrible abortion pills.