Louisiana Battles Policy Pushed By Biden To ‘Nulify’ Pro-Life Protections

A Tuesday hearing could determine whether abortion pills can be shipped across the country without an in-person doctor visit, a practice that has led to an increase in abortions across the United States – even in states where medication abortions are illegal.

Magistrate Judge David Ayo will hear a case from the state of Louisiana challenging regulations put in place by President Joe Biden’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that enabled the widespread shipment of the abortion drug mifepristone without an in-person doctor visit. Louisiana argues that the policy undercuts laws it passed to ban medication abortions and has asked the judge to block the regulations while the suit is litigated. 

“As much as we celebrated the fall of Roe v. 
Wade, the Dobbs decision has been effectively nullified by the mail-order regime that the Biden FDA has initiated and continues to perpetuate across this country. So we have to win this case for unborn babies and their mothers,” said Erik Baptist, a lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom who is representing Louisiana.

During a call with pro-life leaders attended by The Daily Wire on Monday, Baptist described the case as the “most important” court battle for the pro-life movement since the Dobbs decision.

“When the Supreme Court issued the Dobbs decision and overturned Roe v. Wade, it had the expectation to send the issue back to the people, to their representatives, and also to the states,” he said. “But what happened was that the Biden administration anticipated the Dobbs decision, and then when it came out, tried to nullify that decision.”

The suit, which was filed in November, was also joined by Rosalie Markezich, a woman who says her ex-boyfriend coerced her into ending the life of their unborn child after he ordered illegal abortion pills online.

States like California and New York have enacted “shield laws” to protect abortionists from being extradited to states where they have sent abortion pills in violation of state laws.

Baptist said that the Biden administration used the FDA’s removal of the in-person requirement to push out the abortion pill throughout the country. In Louisiana, he said that there were as many as 1,000 illegal abortions every month facilitated by the mailing in of abortion drugs. Data released in December by the pro-abortion Society of Family Planning revealed that the number of monthly abortions across the country continued to increase in 2025 from 2024, which was itself an increase from 2023.

Ayo was appointed to the position by judges in the Western District of Louisiana, who were all appointed by Republican presidents, except for one. The hearing will examine both the merits of the case and a motion from the Justice Department to dismiss the case.

The FDA has so far resisted calls from pro-life lawmakers and advocates to put the in-person requirements back in place. In a filing in the case last month, the Justice Department argued that the mail-order abortion regulations do not undermine state laws and that ending the policy could undercut a safety review the FDA says that it is currently conducting into mifepristone.

The Department of Health and Human Services told The Daily Wire it does not comment on pending litigation.

Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who held a hearing last month on the dangers of the abortion pill, said during the Monday call that the Trump administration should restore the in-person requirement for dispensing the pill that was in place before COVID.

Mifepristone cuts off the nutrients that an unborn child needs to survive in the womb. Another drug is then taken to expel the deceased baby from the mother.

Polling released last week by Cygnal showed that a large majority of Republican primary voters want the FDA to take action to crack down on mail-order abortions before the 2026 midterm elections. Nearly a third of Republican primary voters said they would be less excited to vote if Republicans backed away from pro-life policies.