Fourth Circuit upholds West Virginia's ban on medication abortions

By 
 July 21, 2025

Earlier this year, a drug company filed a lawsuit which challenged West Virginia's ban on medication abortions, arguing that it is preempted by federal law.

Yet in a move which left Republicans cheering, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the ban last week.

Law "leaves the states free to adopt or diverge from West Virginia’s path"

According to The Hill, Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson wrote that a 2007 federal law on mifepristone, which is one of the two drugs commonly used in medication abortions, "leaves the states free to adopt or diverge from West Virginia’s path."

He wrote that it "falls well short of expressing a clear intention to displace the states’ historic and sovereign right to protect the health and safety of their citizens."

"We respect the fact that appellant and some amici have argued that access to mifepristone is important to the health of women in the course of their reproductive choices," Wilkinson acknowledged.

"Our objection is not to the substance of this point, but to the venue in which it is advanced," the circuit court judge went on to assert.

Biden-appointed judge authors dissenting opinion

However, that conclusion was objected to in a dissenting opinion authored by Judge DeAndrea Gist Benjamin, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2023.

She alleged that West Virginia's law "erects barriers to life-saving healthcare for countless West Virginians in ways not envisioned by Congress."

Benjamin argued that "the twin sensitivities of abortion access and states’ rights cannot influence our willingness to recognize the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) clear authority in this area."

"By criminalizing medical providers and prohibiting medication abortions, then, West Virginia has exceeded the ability to regulate abortion as established in Dobbs and has trespassed on the FDA’s authority to regulate the safe use of and unburdened access to mifepristone," the federal judge insisted.

West Virginia governor calls decision a "big win"

The Hill noted how for his part, West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey put out a statement which welcomed the court's decision.

"Big win out of the 4th Circuit today! I defended this law as Attorney General and am proud to see a victory in this case," the governor wrote.

"West Virginia can continue to enforce our pro-life laws and lead the nation in our efforts to protect life. We will always be a pro-life state!" he added.

" A free people [claim] their rights, as derived from the laws of nature."
Thomas Jefferson