Griffin: ‘The Food and Drug Administration’s flawed approval of an abortion drug … doesn’t override West Virginia’s state law prohibiting abortions’

LITTLE ROCK – After filing an amicus brief on behalf of himself and 22 other state attorneys general in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit supporting West Virginia’s abortion prohibition, Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement:

“Two years ago, the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade and returned the authority to regulate or prohibit abortion to the States. The Food and Drug Administration’s flawed approval of an abortion drug doesn’t change that, and that’s why I led 22 states in filing an amicus brief arguing that FDA approval of an abortion drug doesn’t override West Virginia’s state law prohibiting abortions.”

The amicus supports West Virginia’s defense of its abortion restrictions from a legal challenge by the abortion drug maker GenBioPro, which claims that West Virginia cannot ban abortion because that would restrict access to an FDA-regulated drug. In particular, GenBioPro claims that the FDA’s modest mifepristone safety regulations preempt all state laws that affect mifepristone access—an erroneous view that would preempt a host of state laws regulating everything from the practice of pharmacy and medicine to state malpractice law.

Attorney General Griffin previously led a multistate amicus brief supporting West Virginia’s motion to dismiss this case in federal district court. That court agreed and dismissed GenBioPro’s lawsuit. The states supporting West Virginia urge the Fourth Circuit to affirm that decision.

To read the amicus, click here.

For a printer-friendly version, click here.

About Attorney General Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having
previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.

Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 27 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.

He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née Bragg), North Carolina, and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.

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