Keker, Van Nest & Peters attorneys filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit supporting a lower court’s decision to block North Carolina’s restrictive abortion laws. Anjali Srinivasan, Sydnee J. Robinson, and Jonhatan Aragon authored the brief on behalf of 150 distinguished researchers, clinicians, and professors who have extensive expertise in public health research regarding abortion safety, access, and effectiveness in the United States.
The North Carolina law restricts access to medical abortions by limiting the prescribing authority to physicians only and requiring in-person visits. The brief supports the district court’s ruling, which found that federal law preempts North Carolina's restrictions because the FDA has already determined that any certified healthcare provider—not just physicians—can prescribe and dispense abortion medication, including via telehealth.
The brief draws on extensive public health research, much of which the FDA relied on in making its determinations, to demonstrate that non-physicians can safely administer abortion medications through telehealth, expanding access to reproductive healthcare without compromising quality.
The case is Amy Bryant v. Moore, et al., case number 24-1576, in the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Read the complete draft of the amicus brief.