Washington Attorney General Nick Brown has joined attorneys general and a governor from 16 other states to ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to remove some restrictions on mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortions, which they say make it burdensome to prescribe and provide the drug to patients.
The attorneys general in the 15 states and District of Columbia, along with Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, filed a citizen petition, which is the formal process for requesting FDA changes, and provided evidence of the safety of medication abortion in their states as well as the burdens caused by the FDA’s restrictions on mifepristone.
This is the latest legal action by Washington state, including from Brown’s predecessor as attorney general, now Gov. Bob Ferguson, to push for broader access to the drug.
The FDA’s restrictions include requiring providers to become registered prescribers of mifepristone; requiring pharmacies to obtain special certification to dispense the drug; and requiring patients to sign a form agreeing to terminate their pregnancy voluntarily before receiving a prescription.
In declarations submitted by the state, Washington physicians say the current registration requirement leaves providers feeling vulnerable to possible attacks by anti-abortion activists and have resulted in fewer providers able to prescribe medication abortion, particularly in rural areas with limited health care options.
The states also contend such restrictions are not warranted given the safety record of medication abortion, the most common means of abortion in the United States. Data compiled by the Washington State Department of Health shows that of the nearly 30,000 medication abortions provided in Washington in 2023 and 2024, fewer than 0.2% resulted in a complication severe enough to warrant hospitalization.
Along with Brown and Shapiro, the citizen petition to the FDA includes the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and the District of Columbia. In addition to filing their own citizen petition, the states joined a separate petition filed earlier by the states of Massachusetts, California, New Jersey and New York.
