Nebraska leads 23-state coalition asking Supreme Court to uphold Mifepristone stay
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers on Thursday announced a multistate legal effort supporting a challenge to federal rules governing access to the abortion medication Mifepristone.
Hilgers filed an amicus brief on behalf of 23 states asking the Supreme Court to leave in place a lower court’s stay of a federal regulation that removed the longstanding in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion pill Mifepristone.
In legal terms, a stayed rule is a law, regulation, or court order that has been temporarily paused and is not currently being enforced while a court case continues.
According to Hilgers, the stayed rule — issued in 2023 by the FDA — has “the practical effect” of allowing non-Nebraska doctors to prescribe mifepristone to patients and ship that drug across state lines to women in Nebraska.
“The Dobbs decision returned the issue of abortion to the States,” said Hilgers. “The people of Nebraska have enacted regulations on chemical abortion drugs like Mifepristone. This Rule allowed doctors in other jurisdictions to openly flout Nebraska law. We think the lower court correctly stayed the rule, and we are hopeful the Supreme Court will leave the stay in place.”
Nebraska filed the brief in support of Louisiana, which is suing the federal Food and Drug Administration, arguing that the rule removing the in-person dispensing requirement was not based on sound science and thus procedurally flawed.
Hilgers said the FDA has admitted the 2023 rule was procedurally flawed and is currently conducting a review.
If the Supreme Court upholds the stay, Mifepristone will remain available to Nebraska patients who comply with Nebraska law’s regulatory requirements, which include in-person prescribing and administration.
States joining Nebraska on the brief include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
