Following Emergency Stay, Schumer, Jeffries Lead 250+ Democrats In Supreme Court Fight To Protect Mifepristone Access, Women’s Health Care, And FDA Authority

Washington, D.C. - Yesterday, more than 250 House and Senate Democrats filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court urging them to overturn a Fifth Circuit decision that would upend the FDA approval process and restrict access to life-saving mifepristone.

Yesterday, more than 250 Senate and House Democrats-led by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY); Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Ron Wyden (D-OR); House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY); and Representatives Katherine Clark (D-MA), Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)-filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court urging them to overturn a Fifth Circuit decision that would upend the FDA approval process and restrict access to mifepristone. This brief follows emergency appeals from the manufacturers of mifepristone; the Supreme Court issuing a temporary stay of the decision Monday morning until next Monday, May 11; and the announcement that the Court has ordered briefing on the stay by this Thursday, May 7.

The lawmakers argued that mifepristone already undergoes a rigorous FDA approval process, and the medication has repeatedly been found to be safe and effective. For a court to overturn this decision not only limits who is able to receive this vital and life-saving medication, putting lives at risk, but it also undermines the longstanding, congressionally mandated, and evidence-based decision-making process at the FDA.

"For more than a quarter century, FDA has repeatedly and consistently affirmed that mifepristone is safe. Over seven million patients in the U.S. have safely used mifepristone. And as with other drugs, FDA continues to monitor the post-marketing safety data on mifepristone-data confirming that mifepristone is safe without regard to how it is dispensed," the members wrote.

The lawmakers also argued that the Fifth Circuit ruling was clearly not based on the merits of the distribution method of mifepristone, or the scientific backing of the medication, but rather a desire to limit the ability of individuals to receive abortion medication. The emergency stay is necessary to ensure that Louisiana is not able to deny medically appropriate care to patients far beyond the state's borders.

"Decades after FDA's initial approval of mifepristone and years after the in-person dispensing requirement was eliminated, the Fifth Circuit on an 'emergency' basis ordered FDA to re-impose this onerous nationwide restriction on all Americans. Allowing that decision to remain in place undermines the science-based statutory framework Congress commands and threatens patient access to reproductive health care," the members continued. "As has been well publicized, many U.S. residents in states where abortion is legal live far from any reproductive health care provider. Reinstating an in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone exacerbates an already significant reproductive health crisis by limiting access to the most common method of early abortion."

The members argued that this is a clear case of judicial overreach by a lower district court.

"Preserving evidence-based access to mifepristone, including when dispensed by mail or retail pharmacy, is necessary to mitigate the imminent harm facing members of the public. Women deserve access to mifepristone for reproductive health care, and all Americans deserve integrity in the congressionally mandated, evidence-based process for FDA's drug regulatory decisions," the members concluded.

In the Senate, the amicus brief was signed by all 47 Democratic U.S. Senators.

In the House, the brief was signed by 212 Democratic U.S. Representatives.

The lawmakers' amicus brief to the Supreme Court can be read in full HERE.

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