Pair of lawsuits kick off state-federal battle over abortion pills

A widely anticipated legal battle over whether federal policies supersede state laws began Wednesday with a pair of lawsuits seeking to stop restrictions on abortion pills in two states.

The challenges targeting laws in North Carolina and West Virginia that block patients from receiving abortion pills by mail or from retail pharmacies or ban the use of the pills entirely will likely have national implications, as more than a dozen states have imposed laws limiting how, when and where patients can obtain abortion pills.

Both cases make the argument that federal policies, not state laws, should determine access to abortion medicine. While the cases only ask that the laws be suspended, wins for challengers could embolden doctors or advocacy groups to target other states restrictions on the medication.

The cases come as both supporters and opponents of the right to terminate a pregnancy are increasingly focusing on abortion pills which recently became the most popular method of abortion in the United States and a common way patients are circumventing state bans on the procedure.