WASHINGTON — The National Right to Life Committee commends Tuesday’s ruling by a three-judge appeals panel that the FDA’s approval of mifepristone does not preempt West Virginia’s ban on mifepristone, the abortion pill.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the clear constitutional authority of states to protect unborn children in GenBioPro v. Morrisey.

“This ruling represents a powerful reaffirmation of a state’s right to protect the unborn,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “We welcome this decision and applaud the court for upholding the rule of law.”

In a 28-page opinion, U.S. Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote,

Just after the Supreme Court restored the states’ traditional authority to regulate abortion, GenBioPro would have us wrest it right back from them. Appellant attempts to assemble a preemption theory out of statutory scraps and fragments that do nothing to hide the fact that the theory is but a fig leaf for an assault on the Dobbs decision.

Tobias continued, “We praise West Virginia’s pro-life legislators, West Virginians for Life and pro-life West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey for championing the right to life for the most vulnerable among us.” 

After Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, West Virginia passed The Unborn Child Protection Act, which made it a felony, except under certain circumstances, to prescribe, sell or dispense mifepristone—even by telemedicine.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide, and euthanasia.