Ohio Supreme Court agrees state law requires compliance with abortion drug restrictions

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Friday that an Ohio statute does indeed require abortionists to abide by the manufacturer’s dosing instructions and warnings when prescribing the abortion drug RU-486. The Alliance Defense Fund provided funding for a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the case by Americans United for Life.

“A woman’s life and health is worth more than Planned Parenthood’s bottom line,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Steven H. Aden. “This Ohio statute simply requires abortionists to abide by FDA-approved guidelines for the abortion drug RU-486, yet Planned Parenthood wants the freedom to exceed those guidelines when they wish to, even though there’s evidence that some women may even have died when the guidelines weren’t followed. Planned Parenthood may say it cares about the health of women, but if that was true, it wouldn’t be fighting against this law.”

In ongoing litigation over the Ohio law, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit asked the Ohio Supreme Court to clarify whether the Ohio law requires compliance with the FDA’s determination that RU-486 not be prescribed after 49 days of gestation. The 6th Circuit also asked the Ohio high court to clarify whether the law also requires “compliance with the treatment protocols and dosage indications described in the drug’s final printed labeling.” The high court answered “yes” to both questions.

In its opinion in Cordray v. Planned Parenthood Cincinnati Region, the court wrote, “The Ohio Constitution vests the General Assembly, and not this court, with the legislative powers of government. Our role, in exercise of the judicial power granted to us by the Constitution, is to interpret the law that the General Assembly enacts. Because we conclude that the plain language of R.C. 2919.123 prohibits a physician from knowingly providing mifepristone to induce an abortion beyond the 49th day of pregnancy or from knowingly administering it without complying with the dosage indications and treatment protocols expressly approved by the FDA in the drug approval letter and the final printed labeling, we answer both certified questions in the affirmative.”

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