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The request echoes the position the Biden administration took in the case in January, surprising some observers.
May 5, 2025Updated 5:43 p.m. ET
The Trump administration on Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to sharply restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone — taking the same position as the Biden administration in a closely watched case that has major implications for abortion access.
The court filing by the Justice Department is striking, given that President Trump and a number of officials in his administration have forcefully opposed abortion rights. Mr. Trump often boasts that he appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who voted in 2022 to overturn the national right to abortion. And so far in his second term, his administration has taken steps to curtail programs that support reproductive health.
The court filing was the first time the Trump administration has weighed in on the lawsuit, which seeks to reverse numerous regulatory changes that the Food and Drug Administration made, starting in 2016, that greatly expanded access to mifepristone.
The Trump administration’s request made no mention of the merits of the case, which have not yet been considered by the courts. Rather, echoing the argument that the Biden administration made shortly before Mr. Trump took office, the court filing asserts that the case does not meet the legal standard to be heard in the federal district court in which it was filed.
The plaintiffs in the case are the conservative attorneys general of three states: Missouri, Idaho and Kansas, and the case was filed in a federal district court in Texas.
“The states do not dispute that their claims have no connection to the Northern District of Texas,” the Justice Department lawyers wrote in the filing.
