The state of Texas is suing to block one of the Biden administration’s key initiatives to protect access to abortion medication, alleging an HHS guidance for pharmacies seeks to impose federal abortion rights that no longer exist.
In its lawsuit filed in US District Court for the Western District of Texas, the state called the administration’s “pharmacy mandate” an illegal attempt to circumvent federal and state law by requiring local pharmacies to provide “abortion-inducing drugs.”
The 2022 guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights states that pharmacies, as recipients of federal funds that include Medicare and Medicaid, are prohibited from discriminating in their services. The agency’s press release announcing its guidance makes clear that federal civil rights law includes pregnancy discrimination, teeing up a conflict for states trying to curb access to abortion medications under their own legal frameworks.
The lawsuit is among the latest in the swirl of legal activity following the Supreme Court’s revoking of federal abortion protections in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
In Texas’s view, Dobbs “permits states to ban abortions even when induced through the use of Mifepristone,” according to the complaint.
Texas, pro-life advocates, and others have accused the Biden administration of launching a crusade to ensure reproductive rights across the US while states erect local bans of varying degrees.
“The Biden Administration knows that it has no legal authority to institute this radical abortion agenda, so now it’s trying to intimidate every pharmacy in America by threatening to withhold federal funds,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement.
Cause of Action: Affordable Care Act violation; unconstitutional exercise of spending power; Administrative Procedure Act violation
Relief: Permanent injunction; attorneys fees
Response: The HHS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Attorneys: Attorney general of Texas
The case is Texas v. Becerra, W.D. Tex., No. 7:23-cv-00022, complaint filed 2/7/23.
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