Republicans back lawsuit seeking to overturn FDA approval of the abortion pill

Democratic and Republican attorneys general locked horns on Friday after 22 Republican attorneys general and 67 GOP members of Congress supported a lawsuit which would which aims to overturn the FDA’s (Food and Drug Administration’s) approval of the abortion pill.

Democrat members said that if this lawsuit were to be successful, it would have “devastating consequences” for women. Mississippi led 22 Republican attorneys general who stated that the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone is “deeply flawed.”

Mifepristone has been used in abortions for nearly 20 years.   The most common method to terminate a pregnancy in the United States is a mixture of mifepristone and misoprostol.  This combination of drugs has been used in nearly 50% of abortions in the United States.

The abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America, in an analysis published Friday, argued that 40 million women no longer have access to the abortion pill should the court overturns the FDA’s approval.  NARAL said that women would be required to either undergo more invasive surgery or abandon the abortion altogether.

NARAL went onto say that this would impact women on a lower income or those in rural areas who may not have access to a clinic.

“This would have devastating consequences,” the attorneys general informed Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who is in charge of the case in the U.S. District Court in Northern Texas.

The coalition led by Mississippi backed the anti-abortion physicians claims, calling the FDA’s actions on mifepristone “deeply flawed.”

“For two decades, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has acted to establish a nationwide regime of on-demand abortion by licensing sweeping access to chemical abortion drugs—in defiance of federal and state laws protecting life, health, and safety,” the Republican attorneys general argued.

Later Friday, 67 Republican members of Congress filed a brief calling the FDA’s approval of mifepristone “unlawful,” arguing it should be overturned. 

The FDA said that they are consistently monitoring the safety of Mifepristone.

The FDA, said in its response in January that the lawsuit is both “extraordinary and unprecedented.” 

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk has set a key deadline in the case for February 24^th.