Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis’s Statement on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hearing on Case to Ban Mifepristone

 

For Immediate Release
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Contact: Press@ltg.ca.gov, (916) 445-8994

 

Sacramento –  Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis issued the following statement after the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in FDA vs. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. This case was brought by anti-abortion activists in an attempt to end the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone — a safe and effective medication used for the majority of abortions in the United States. 

“Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, extremists continue to wage an assault on women’s rights. Today, we see yet another attack on reproductive care with the legal challenge to the FDA’s approval of mifepristone. Mifepristone has been a safe, effective, and legal form of medical care in the United States for more than two decades. Now, women’s lives, safety, and freedoms hang in the balance of the court’s ruling.  

“This is the latest hostile attempt to control women’s ability to make their own medical decisions about their reproductive lives and futures. Despite these relentless attacks, California refuses to back down from protecting women’s freedom. Our state will continue to lead the nation in the fight to safeguard reproductive rights for all. We ask the U.S. Supreme Court to stand on the right side of science, history, and what is right and uphold the fundamental rights of women everywhere.” 

BACKGROUND:

Following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs. Wade in 2021, a coalition of anti-abortion activists and organizations initiated another legal challenge to abortion access, this time challenging the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, the most commonly used abortion medication in the United States. The lawsuit, FDA vs. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, challenged the FDA’s initial approval of mifepristone in 2000 and the revisions the agency made to the protocol for prescribing and dispensing the medication in 2016 and 2021.

Following a decision by a lower court in Texas in April 2023, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FDA’s 2000 approval could not be challenged but rejected the agency’s actions in 2016 and 2021. The Biden Administration appealed that decision to the Supreme Court and the Court issued a stay on the lower court’s decision until it could hear the case.

The Supreme Court will consider whether the group bringing the lawsuit may challenge the FDA’s approvals and if the FDA acted appropriately when they expanded access in 2016 and 2021. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the Fifth Circuit Court decision, it could threaten access to medication that has been proven safe and effective and has been used by millions of women across the United States for more than two decades.

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