Abortion pill manufacturer GenBioPro sues West Virginia, argues FDA rules pre-empt state ban

Key Points

• Access to the abortion pill mifepristone has become a major legal battleground in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that overturned federal abortion rights last June.
• GenBioPro argues that FDA regulations on the abortion pill pre-empt West Virginia's state law that basically bans the medication.
• Anti-abortion activists, on the other hand, are pushing to have mifepristone completely pulled from the U.S. market thorugh a lawsuit in Texas.

Boxes of the medication Mifepristone used to induce a medical abortion are prepared for patients at Planned Parenthood health center in Birmingham, Alabama, March 14, 2022.

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

The abortion pill manufacturer GenBioPro on Wednesday sued to overturn West Virginia's ban on abortion because it restricts access to a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in West Virginia's southern district, argues that FDA regulations on medications such as the abortion pill pre-empt state law under the U.S. Constitution.