Paxton sues Biden to stop HHS from illegally forcing pharmacies to provide abortion drugs

Austin, Texas — Attorney General Paxton today filed a new lawsuit against the Biden administration to stop it from illegally forcing pharmacies across America to supply abortifacients, which are prescription or over-the-counter abortion-inducing drugs.

In July 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued guidance requiring pharmacies to provide abortion-inducing drugs to women seeking an abortion of choice so as not to violate the Biden administration’s view of federal law. Management threatened that pharmacies not keeping up with Biden’s pro-abortion program would face the loss of Medicaid and Medicare funds.

While HHS claims that the federal anti-discrimination law requires every pharmacy in America to be converted into an on-demand abortion clinic, this is patently false. Contrary to administration guidance, Title IX anti-discrimination protections have never been used to force companies to perform abortions. Rather, these protections work in the opposite direction, prohibiting the coercion of any person or entity to assist in an abortion.

In addition, the Dobbs Supreme Court ruling in June 2022 made it clear that laws governing abortion should be made by state legislators, not the federal government. Thus, the HHS guidance contradicts Dobbs by illegally repealing some state laws that prevent pharmacies from supplying these abortion-inducing drugs.

“The Biden administration knows it doesn’t have the legal authority to introduce this radical abortion program, which is why it is now trying to intimidate every pharmacy in America by threatening to withhold federal funds,” Attorney General Paxton said. “It won’t work. Texas and several other states across the country have passed laws to protect the unborn in good faith, and we are not going to back down just because unelected bureaucrats in Washington want to pursue illegal extremist federal policies.”

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