{"id":217733,"date":"2025-11-14T10:07:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/?post_type=press_release&#038;p=217733"},"modified":"2025-11-14T10:07:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:07:03","slug":"aclu-files-lawsuit-to-demand-transparency-from-the-fda-in-its-review-of-medication-abortion-regulations","status":"publish","type":"press_release","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/aclu-files-lawsuit-to-demand-transparency-from-the-fda-in-its-review-of-medication-abortion-regulations","title":{"rendered":"ACLU Files Lawsuit to Demand Transparency from the FDA in Its Review of Medication Abortion Regulations"},"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-217733","press_release","type-press_release","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"subheading":"","date_and_time":"2025-11-14 10:15:00","featured_image":"","show_on_press_releases_landing_page":true,"components":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":{"text":"WASHINGTON \u2014 The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/cases\/aclu-v-u-s-food-and-drug-administration?document=Complaint\">filed a lawsuit<\/a> yesterday to compel the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to disclose records related to the agency\u2019s review of its regulations on mifepristone, a medication used in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.guttmacher.org\/2024\/03\/medication-abortion-accounted-63-all-us-abortions-2023-increase-53-2020\">most<\/a> U.S. abortions. The lawsuit seeks to enforce the ACLU\u2019s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, filed in August, which seeks information about the scope of the review along with any communications between the FDA and anti-abortion organizations, state and federal officials, and politicians requesting greater restrictions on medication abortion. The FDA has yet to respond to the ACLU\u2019s FOIA request or to similar requests filed by other organizations, leaving the public in the dark about steps the agency appears to be taking towards making medication abortion harder to access.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe people of this country deserve to know whether the Food and Drug Administration is following the science on medication abortion or simply following the whims of anti-abortion ,\u201d said <strong>Rachel Reeves, staff attorney with the Reproductive Freedom Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. <\/strong>\u201cWe demand transparency from the Trump administration and its anti-abortion allies, because this threat to our reproductive freedom cannot continue in secrecy.\u201d\r\n\r\nAlarming statements from Trump administration officials, including FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, have indicated that the review centers upon a deeply flawed paper, written by a Project 2025 cosponsor, that purposefully distorts the excellent safety record of medication abortion. This paper \u2014 which is not peer reviewed and is only six pages long \u2014 has been <a href=\"https:\/\/law.ucla.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/PDFs\/Center_on_Reproductive_Health\/Reproductive%20Health%20Researchers%20Comment%20Letter%20to%20FDA%208.27.25.pdf\">denounced by more than 260 expert researchers<\/a> for its lack of transparency and gravely flawed methodology.\r\n\r\nAnti-abortion politicians are nevertheless using this paper to push for medically unnecessary restrictions, including limits on <a href=\"https:\/\/societyfp.org\/research\/wecount\/wecount-december-2024-data\/\">telemedicine<\/a> for abortion. Today, 1 in 4 U.S. abortion patients use to safely have a medication abortion after consulting with a health care provider access to abortion will be further out of reach for patients across the nation.\r\n\r\nThe FOIA request and complaint are just the latest in the ACLU\u2019s efforts to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/aclu-calls-out-junk-science-at-the-heart-of-the-supreme-court-medication-abortion-case\">protect<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/cases\/american-college-obstetricians-and-gynecologists-v-us-food-and-drug-administration\">expand<\/a> access to medication abortion. For instance, even as the Trump administration lays the groundwork to make mifepristone harder to access, a federal district court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/federal-court-rules-that-fdas-restrictions-on-medication-abortion-are-unlawful-vindicating-reproductive-health-experts\">ruled<\/a> in October in the ACLU\u2019s longstanding case <em>Purcell v. Kennedy <\/em>that the FDA has failed to justify its current heavy restrictions on mifepristone, which already go far beyond what FDA imposes on the vast majority of medications. That recent decision prohibits the FDA from ignoring the wealth of peer-reviewed evidence on mifepristone\u2019s safety and how the FDA\u2019s restrictions burden patient access in conducting its new review."}}],"drupal_node_id":"","email":"media@aclu.org","phone":"(212) 549-2666","address":{"address_1":"125 Broad Street","address_2":"18th Floor","city":"New York","state":"NY","zip_code":10004,"country":"United States"},"pgp_public_key":"","issues":[46701,46316],"press_releases_related_to_cases":[217731],"spokesperson":[35488],"related_affiliates":[341],"related_content_documents":"","related_content_publications":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>American Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ACLU Files Lawsuit to Demand Transparency from the FDA in Its Review of Medication Abortion Regulations | American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/aclu-files-lawsuit-to-demand-transparency-from-the-fda-in-its-review-of-medication-abortion-regulations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/aclu-files-lawsuit-to-demand-transparency-from-the-fda-in-its-review-of-medication-abortion-regulations\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/aclu-files-lawsuit-to-demand-transparency-from-the-fda-in-its-review-of-medication-abortion-regulations\",\"name\":\"ACLU Files Lawsuit to Demand Transparency from the FDA in Its Review of Medication Abortion Regulations | American Civil Liberties Union\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-14T15:07:03+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/aclu-files-lawsuit-to-demand-transparency-from-the-fda-in-its-review-of-medication-abortion-regulations\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/\",\"name\":\"American Civil Liberties Union\",\"description\":\"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. 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