CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — Abortion pill manufacturer GenBioPro has dropped the rest of its legal challenge to West Virginia’s abortion law, the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office announced on Tuesday.
The company makes mifepristone, and in January sued West Virginia over the law, which prohibits abortions at all stages unless in medical emergencies, cases where the fetus is non-viable, has abnormalities or is the result of rape or incest that has been reported to law enforcement and that is fewer than eight weeks old for women and 14 weeks old for girls. It also limits the prescription of abortion pills through telehealth appointments.
The initial lawsuit argued that the law was a violation of the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, as well as the Commerce Clause since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the abortion drug for women who are up to 10 weeks pregnant. It was partially dismissed in August when a federal judge ruled those acts do not grant the FDA “the power to mandate nationwide abortion access.”
Now, GenBioPro has dropped its challenge to the portion of the law prohibiting telehealth appointments as well, and as a result, the Attorney General’s Office said Judge Robert Chambers of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia entered a final dismissal order on Monday.
The Attorney General said that he expects the company to appeal.
“As we did in federal district court, we stand ready to defend West Virginia law to the fullest,” Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said. “There’s no doubt in my mind the new Unborn Child Protection Act is not preempted by federal law and that all of these statutes are constitutional.”
The Unborn Child Protection Act was passed in September 2022 after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision which effectively overturned Roe v. Wade.
