Washington, D.C. – Reproductive Freedom for All has filed a lawsuit seeking critical information and records from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the Trump-Vance administration’s efforts to restrict access to reproductive health care. The lawsuit follows a series of requests for public information that remain unlawfully unfulfilled. Reproductive Freedom for All is represented by Democracy Forward in the matter.
The filing responds to increasing evidence that the administration is working behind closed doors to restrict access to medication abortion and undermine emergency health care protections for pregnant patients. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests demanded records related to political interference, agency leadership communications, and coordination with extreme anti-abortion groups.
“All evidence to date indicates that – as we feared – the Trump-Vance administration is working to undermine access to vital reproductive health care, even in circumstances in which a patient’s life is in danger,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “The administration’s actions threaten public health, and yet so little is known about how they were formulated because they are hiding without accountability. The public has a right to know how efforts to further dangerous and politically motivated restrictions on reproductive health care are being implemented.”
“The Trump-Vance administration is using the FDA to push a backdoor abortion ban, and they don’t want Americans to know about it. They’re quietly working with anti-abortion extremists to undermine access to medication abortion and strip hospitals of their duty to provide lifesaving emergency abortion care,” said Mini Timmaraju, CEO and President of Reproductive Freedom for All. “We’re demanding answers because the American people deserve to know the truth.”
Reports indicate that the administration is considering a politically driven review of long-approved abortion medications and has rescinded CMS guidance clarifying hospitals’ obligations to provide emergency care under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, a federal law that requires hospitals to provide stabilizing treatment to anyone experiencing a medical emergency, even if this includes abortion care when necessary to save the patient’s life or prevent serious harm.
The FOIA requests seek communications from key political appointees, such as FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, regarding mifepristone, emergency care for pregnant patients, and interactions with outside groups like the National Right to Life Committee, Americans United for Life, and others.
Though receipt of the FOIA requests was acknowledged by the agencies, they have not produced the requested documents in the time required by law. The lawsuit filed today asks for a court to help ensure that the public can hold health agency officials accountable for decisions that could limit access to abortion and life-saving emergency care.
The legal team working on the matter for Democracy Forward includes Daniel McGrath, Anisha N. Hindocha, and Robin Thurston.
Read the complaint here and the original FOIA requests here and here.
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Democracy Forward Foundation is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.