Texas AG Whose Wife Divorced Him on “Biblical Grounds” Sues Tylenol Maker on Medically Unfounded Grounds

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton took the Trump administration’s debunked-by-actual-doctors claims re: Tylenol on Tuesday and ran with them, suing Kenvue, the manufacturer of the drug, and claiming, without evidence, that taking Tylenol during pregnancy can cause autism.

In a lawsuit that made accusations even Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s FDA hasn’t put out there, Paxton claimed that the federal government “confirmed” Tylenol use during pregnancy “likely causes” autism. While it’s true that Donald Trump delivered a wild, rambling monologue on the supposed dangers of Tylenol last month, in which he told pregnant women, “Don’t take Tylenol. Don’t take it. Fight like hell not to take it”—and failed multiple times to pronounce the word acetaminophen before finally getting it—the FDA subsequently put out a notice stating that a “causal relationship” between the medication and autism has not been established. Nevertheless, Paxton declared in a statement—in which he named Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue, the former and current manufacturers of Tylenol—“These corporations lied for decades, knowingly endangering millions to line their pockets…. By holding Big Pharma accountable for poisoning our people, we will help Make America Healthy Again.” For its part, Kenvue said in a statement that they are “deeply concerned by the perpetuation of misinformation on the safety of acetaminophen and the potential impact that could have on the health of American women and children,” adding that the claims against them “lack legal merit and scientific support.”

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Other people concerned about the misinformation being spread about acetaminophen include actual doctors. After Trump’s big Tylenol presser last month, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists called the claims made by the president “not only highly concerning to clinicians but also irresponsible when considering the harmful and confusing message they send to pregnant patients, including those who may need to rely on this beneficial medicine during pregnancy…. In more than two decades of research on the use of acetaminophen in pregnancy, not a single reputable study has successfully concluded that the use of acetaminophen in any trimester of pregnancy causes neurodevelopmental disorders in children.”

Paxton, a candidate for US Senate and a major supporter of Donald Trump, has spent much of his time as attorney general focused on pregnancy—more specifically, forcing women to stay pregnant against their will. He has supported extreme abortion bans, made June 24 (the day Roe v. Wade was overturned) an annual holiday for the attorney general’s office, and sued the Biden administration after it said hospitals must perform life-saving abortions even in states that ban the practice. Over the summer, his wife of several decades filed for divorce from him on “biblical grounds,” saying, “In light of recent discoveries, I do not believe that it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or Ken to remain in [this] marriage.” In response, Paxton did not deny his wife’s accusations, merely announcing on X that he would be embarking on “a new chapter.”