Senator Murray Responds to Unprecedented Decision Seeking to Revoke Mifepristone Approval, Emphasizes Republicans' Decades-Long Efforts to Ban Abortion
Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), led a press call with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Nancy Northup, the President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, in response to yesterday's federal court ruling in Texas, which seeks to revoke the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) more than 20-year-old approval of mifepristone--threatening access to the medication for millions of women across the country. Senator Murray, who has helped lead the fight for abortion rights in the Senate for decades, underscored Senate Democrats' firm commitment to protecting access to abortion in every way possible.
At the start of the call, Senator Murray made clear that anti-abortion activists wanted to deny women across America the ability to get a safe and effective medication--and they went out and forum-shopped to find a sympathetic judge who would agree with them. Alliance Defending Freedom--a far-right legal group known for its attacks on LGBTQ rights and the right to abortion--filed the federal lawsuit in November on behalf of anti-abortion groups challenging the FDA's) decades-old approval of mifepristone, a safe and effective medication that is now used in more than half of all abortions nationwide and is safer than Tylenol.
The ruling was issued by Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, a Trump-appointee who was confirmed in 2019.
"Here's what's going on: far-right extremists are determined to deny women access to medication abortion," began Senator Murray. "So they went out, came up with a challenge to a decades-old FDA approval, and then asked one district judge in Texas to overrule the agency's experts and scientists to pull a drug that is safer than Tylenol--and the most common way women in this country get an abortion today--off the shelves."
"Let's be clear: mifepristone is safe and effective," continued Senator Murray. "The FDA determined that twenty years ago. The science is done. The results are in. This ruling isn't about science--it's about ideology. It is not about protecting women--it's about controlling their bodies. It is cruel, and it flies completely in the face of all reason and logic."
Importantly, Murray noted that this ruling was an unprecedented assault on the FDA's authority to simply do its job--and is now threatening patients' ability to get all manner of FDA-approved drugs. Mifepristone was approved by the FDA in 2000. It's a safe and effective option for ending an early pregnancy--and used in more than half of all abortions nationwide. Pulling mifepristone from the shelves could deny 64.5 million women of reproductive age in all 50 states access to medication abortion care.
"And let's not forget, this dangerous ruling threatens to absolutely upend FDA's ability to approve all kinds of other safe medications too--everything from insulin to chemotherapy drugs," underscored Senator Murray. "As Americans, we should be able to count on the FDA to ensure the drugs that our kids and our loved ones depend on are safe, which means the process needs to be driven by science, not politics, and certainly not by what one judge thinks is best. Everyone needs to pay attention here."
Of note, Senator Murray called to attention that Republicans were all in on this lawsuit. It wasn't a fringe extreme of the Republican Party backing the lawsuit-- 67 Republicans in Congress--including 13 Republican Senators--filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit and the plaintiffs' efforts to block access to mifepristone nationwide. 22 Republican attorneys general also filed a separate brief in support of the lawsuit.
"This is the result of a decades-long effort by Republicans to ban abortion in every part of this country any way they can," said Senator Murray. "I have been ringing the alarm about this for as long as I remember because for as long as I have been in office Republicans have been zealous about their efforts to control women's bodies. I remember opposing this specific Judge's nomination on the Senate floor--warning about his far-right beliefs and his views that someone else knows better than a woman about her own personal medical decisions.
"So yesterday's ruling didn't happen by accident," emphasized Senator Murray. "The Dobbs decision didn't happen by accident. Republicans have meticulously plotted out every confirmation, every lawsuit, every action that has brought us to this point. Dozens of Republicans in Congress and Republican attorneys general all supported this lawsuit to pull mifepristone off the shelves. Let me spell it out for folks: Republicans want to ban abortion everywhere--from Seattle to New York."
Senator Murray made clear the stark contrast between Democrats who are fighting to ensure women can make their own health care decisions and Republicans who are actively working at every turn to force women to stay pregnant no matter their circumstances.
"But Senate Democrats are continuing to fight back with every tool at our disposal. In the immediate, we will fight this in the courts and we will work right alongside the administration to pursue every avenue available to make sure women in this country can make their own health care decisions for themselves," said Senator Murray. "We're going to keep pushing common-sense legislation to protect abortion access in this country. We will continue fighting to get the votes we need to pass the Women's Health Protection Act to restore Roe once and for all. We will continue to put Republicans on the record every way we can, so the American people know exactly who is responsible for this chaos. And we will have this debate out in the public for everyone to see."
"So here's my message to the American people: The fight for reproductive rights didn't end with the Roe decision or the Dobbs decision--and it certainly won't come to a close after last night's decision. It's time to use your voices and your votes--fight back and speak up," said Senator Murray in closing.
Senator Murray has been warning about the tremendous harm this lawsuit could inflict on women and patients in all 50 states--and she has been leading the fight in Congress to protect Americans' reproductive rights and ability to get medication abortion, as well. She pushed to expand access to mifepristone as COVID-19 first spread across the U.S. and blocked Republicans' attempts to curb access to it in the middle of the pandemic. Senator Murray applauded FDA's removal of burdensome barriers to mifepristone and has long underscored that access to medications like mifepristone, which has a strong track record of safety and effectiveness, should be based on science, not politics.
Senator Murray has always fought to make reproductive health care more accessible and affordable for women everywhere--beating back countless Republican attempts to defund Planned Parenthood and other family planning services over the course of her career, and she is widely credited with successfully pushing the Bush administration to follow the science and make Plan B available over the counter. Last month, Senator Murray also led her colleagues in pushing top national pharmacy chains to provide the strongest possible access to mifepristone for patients.
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