A manufacturer of abortion pills and a doctor have challenged restrictions in some U.S. states on mifepristone, the first of two-drug medication to terminate a pregnancy, in separate lawsuits.

GenBioPro Inc. filed the suit at the federal court in Huntington, West Virginia and asserted that the state has no power to overturn an approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval which allows the pills to be sold at select pharmacies.

The company that sells a generic form of mifepristone said that the Virginia’s Unborn Child Protection Act, which forbids the pill in West Virginia, “conflicts with the strong national interest in ensuring access to a federally approved medication to end a pregnancy.”

The suit cited the U.S. Constitution Supremacy Clause, which prioritises federal laws over contentious state laws.

Amy Bryant, a doctor, also sued the state of North Carolina in a separate case over limitations on buying the medication, which she claimed prevented her from treating patients.

Ms Bryant disapproved of the state’s requirement that people seeking abortions physically get the pills from designated facilities and undergo a 72-hour counselling session before doing so.

The requirements, “interfere with her ability to provide medical care to her patients according to her best medical judgement and in accordance with federal law,” according to the lawsuit filed in the federal court in Durham, North Carolina.