County of Santa Clara Urges U.S. Supreme Court to Block Lower Court Orders Restricting Access to FDA-Approved Abortion Medication

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIF. – Building on its longstanding commitment to protecting and championing reproductive freedom, the County of Santa Clara, together with five other large public entities, filed a brief on Friday afternoon in the United States Supreme Court seeking to protect Americans’ access to a drug used for medication abortions. The filing follows on a brief the same jurisdictions filed in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday.

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a federal district court in Texas issued a ruling on April 7 blocking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval – dating back to the year 2000 – of mifepristone, a drug long used, safely and effectively, to terminate pregnancies. The FDA has core expertise on issues of prescription drug safety and effectiveness, which the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized in rejecting prior efforts to override FDA drug-approval actions. The district court’s ruling in this case second-guessed the FDA’s expert scientific judgment, blocking the FDA’s approval of the drug and several later FDA actions – including regulations that allowed patients to access mifepristone through ten weeks of pregnancy (up from the original approval through seven weeks); to be prescribed mifepristone by qualified non-physician healthcare providers like nurse practitioners; to access the drug via telemedicine instead of an in-person visit with a doctor; and to receive their prescription through the mail as opposed to going in-person to a pharmacy. 

Yesterday, the Fifth Circuit blocked part, but not all, of the district court’s order. While it blocked the portion of the ruling that invalidated the FDA’s 2000 approval of mifepristone, the Fifth Circuit left in place the portions of the district court’s ruling that overrule the FDA’s other regulations – those making it easier for patients to access mifepristone.      

If allowed to stand, these rulings would dramatically roll back patient access to safe, effective reproductive health care. To help prevent that harm, the County of Santa Clara filed an amicus brief today, which it co-authored with New York City, supporting the FDA’s emergency request for the Supreme Court to block both lower court orders, so that they cannot be enforced while the FDA’s appeal makes its way through the courts. The brief explains the disruptive effects the lower court rulings would have on public hospitals, healthcare systems, and the communities they serve:

“[T]he order[s] below threaten[] to inject profound uncertainty and chaos into an area of great public significance, pressuring public health-care providers to take on uncertain legal risks or consider abruptly abandoning—perhaps only until the next order in the case—longstanding practices that have served them and their patients well for years.”

 While the Supreme Court today temporarily stayed the lower court rulings until next Wednesday, April 19, to allow the parties time to complete emergency briefing, the County’s brief explains the harm that will occur if the Supreme Court does not block those rulings going forward.

The amicus brief is joined by other large localities around the nation that also operate major public healthcare systems: the County of Los Angeles; the City and County of San Francisco; King County, Washington; and Cook County, Illinois.

"The County of Santa Clara has a deep and longstanding commitment to protecting reproductive freedom," said Santa Clara County Counsel James. R. Williams. "The lower courts' orders threaten to send us back to an earlier time by depriving women of safe and effective reproductive care that has been available to them for decades. The County will continue to take every step we can to ensure safe and comprehensive access to reproductive care, including standing up for fundamental rights in court."

The case is Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, et al., v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, et al., Case Nos. 22A901 & 22A902 (S. Ct.), No. 23-10362 (5th Cir.) and No. 2:22-cv-223 (N.D. Tex.). 

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About the Santa Clara County Counsel’s Office

The Office of the County Counsel serves as legal counsel to the County, its Board of Supervisors and elected officials, every County department and agency, and the County’s boards and commissions. With a staff of over 250, the Office is also responsible for all civil litigation involving the County and its officers.

About the Social Justice and Impact Litigation Section

The Social Justice and Impact Litigation Section within the Santa Clara County Counsel’s Office litigates high-impact cases, drafts innovative local ordinances, and develops new policies and programs to advance the County’s goal of achieving social and economic justice for all its residents. The Section also defends the County in select cases with the potential to significantly affect the County’s ability to provide critical safety net services to vulnerable residents.  The Section is part of a movement to use the power and unique perspective of local government to better serve the community and to drive long-lasting change at the local, state, and national levels.

About the County of Santa Clara, California

The County of Santa Clara government serves a diverse, multi-cultural population of 1.9 million residents in Santa Clara County, California, making it more populous than 14 states in the U.S. The County provides essential services to its residents, including public health protection, environmental stewardship, medical services through the County of Santa Clara Health System, child and adult protection services, homelessness prevention and solutions, roads, park services, libraries, emergency response to disasters, protection of minority communities and those under threat, access to a fair criminal justice system, and many other public benefits.

Media Contacts: 

María Leticia Gómez/Laurel Anderson, Office of Communications and Public Affairs, (408) 299-5119, [email protected]

Posted: April 14, 2023