A West Virginia abortion clinic on Monday dropped its lawsuit against the state’s pro-life law. 

In a federal district court filing, the clinic cited unavailability on the part of its two abortion doctors in seeking a “voluntary dismissal” of the case. 

The lawsuit was filed on Feb. 1 challenging the Unborn Child Protection Act, a law that bans most abortions with exceptions for rape or incest, to save the life of the mother, and in other serious medical circumstances. 

The Alliance Defending Freedom assisted West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrissey in defending the pro-life law in the case of Women’s Health Center of West Virginia v. Sheth. Along with the state of West Virginia, Ashish Sheth was a defendant in his official capacity as president of the West Virginia Board of Medicine. 

“West Virginia has a strong and compelling interest in protecting unborn life, and maternal health and safety. This baseless challenge to the state’s pro-life laws never should have been brought in the first place,” ADF senior counsel Denise Harle, director of the ADF’s Center for Life, said in a statement. “Abortionists who file lawsuits of this sort frequently do so because they would rather make a profit off of vulnerable women, rather than see them have the real health care and resources they need, but that effort here faced serious problems, because West Virginia’s law is on solid legal ground.” 

The abortion facility’s lawsuit challenged two of the state’s health regulations—one that requires surgical abortions to be performed in a hospital, and another that stipulates an abortion must be performed by a licensed medical professional with West Virginia hospital privileges.  

“As West Virginia’s first pro-life attorney general, I stand firm in the belief that it is our duty to protect innocent life. We need to save as many innocent babies’ lives as legally possible,” Morrisey was quoted as saying in the ADF statement. “I am proud to stand for the most vulnerable of our society and the sanctity of life. My office stands ready to defend this clearly constitutional law to the fullest should this lawsuit be refiled, or against any other legal challenge.” 

ADF attorneys also are serving as co-counsels with Morrisey against a lawsuit filed by an abortion drug manufacturer against the state’s pro-life laws. 

GenBioPro, a pharmaceutical company that specializes in producing the abortion pill mifepristone, is suing the West Virginia state government over the state law prohibiting its selling chemical abortion drugs in GenBioPro v. Sorsaia. Mark Sorsaia is the prosecuting attorney for Putnam County, W.Va.  

According to GenBioPro’s website, the drugmaker is committed to “supporting the community of providers, patients, and advocates working to ensure universal access to reproductive health care.”  

The company promotes the drug regardless of “income, gender, race, or geography” and insists that everybody has a “right to reproductive health care, including access to medical abortion.”   

The ADF has fought that lawsuit, asserting that it was filed because the state law “threatens GenBioPro’s profits.” 

 “GenBioPro’s lawsuit falsely claims that the [the federal Food and Drug Administration’s] approval of chemical abortion drugs supersedes West Virginia’s right to make its own abortion laws that protect women, girls, and unborn children,” the ADF says. “Since this claim runs directly counter to the law, ADF is asking a federal district court to dismiss the baseless lawsuit.”  

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