FILE PHOTO: A patient prepares to take Mifepristone, the first pill in a medical abortion, at Alamo Women's Clinic in Carbondale, Illinois, U.S., April 9, 2024. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

By Dietrich Knauth

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Texas and Florida on Friday asked a federal judge to let them join a lawsuit seeking to restrict the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone, saying that they need to step in to protect their abortion policies after changes to other Republican-led states' abortion laws.

The lawsuit is currently being led by Missouri, Kansas and Idaho, which argue that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration acted improperly when it eased restrictions on mifepristone, including by allowing it to be prescribed remotely and dispensed by mail.

Texas and Florida said in a court filing in Texas federal court that Missouri, Kansas and Idaho may no longer be able to adequately represent Republican-led states’ opposition to the abortion pill.

Missouri and Idaho banned elective abortions after the U.S. Supreme Court ended nationwide legal protections for abortion in 2022. But Missouri’s abortion regulations were blocked by a state constitutional amendment passed in 2024, and Idaho’s ban could be reversed in a referendum on the November 2026 general election ballot, according to the court filing.

Kansas is also in a weak position to challenge mifepristone, because the Kansas Supreme Court recently affirmed a “broad” constitutional right to an abortion in that state, according to Texas and Florida.

Texas and Florida said that they need to defend their abortion policies from other states, like New York, that have passed "shield laws" that enable patients to get mail-order mifepristone in other states.

The lawsuit is challenging FDA actions that loosened restrictions on the drug in 2016 and 2021, including allowing for medication abortions at up to 10 weeks of pregnancy instead of seven, and for mail delivery of the drug without a woman first seeing a clinician in person.

The lawsuit began during Democratic former President Joe Biden's administration, but Republican President Donald Trump has continued to defend the FDA's decisions.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a bid by anti-abortion groups and doctors to restrict access to the drug. After the Supreme Court ruling, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, allowed Missouri, Kansas and Idaho to step in and continue the lawsuit.

(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)