Murray, Schumer, Wyden, Jeffries, Clark, Pallone, DeGette, Raskin, and Pressley Lead 250+ Congressional Democrats in Fifth Circuit Fight to Protect Mifepristone Access, Women’s[...]

More than 250 House and Senate Democrats filed an amicus brief to the Fifth Circuit arguing that mifepristone has undergone a rigorous FDA approval process and has repeatedly been found to be safe and effective.

ICYMI: Following Emergency Stay, Murray, Schumer, Jeffries Lead 250+ Democrats in Supreme Court Brief

ICYMI: Senator Murray Statement on Fifth Circuit Ruling to Harshly Limit Access to Medication Abortion Nationwide

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)-alongside Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY); Senator 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)-led more than 250 Senate and House Democrats in filing an amicus brief to the Fifth Circuit in Louisiana v. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) focused on pushing back against Louisiana's attempt to reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone. Following the Supreme Court's stay of the Fifth Circuit's nationwide ban on telehealth access to mifepristone, the case went back to the Fifth Circuit. Louisiana is seeking a ruling that would force the FDA to reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement nationwide for mifepristone-a safe and effective abortion medication that has been FDA-approved since 2000. This medically unnecessary move would end patient access to mifepristone through telemedicine, the method by which more than 1 in 4 abortion patients receive their care in America today. It would remove patients' ability to get mifepristone from their pharmacy, forcing them to find a provider that dispenses the medication.

The lawmakers argued that mifepristone already undergoes a rigorous FDA approval process, and the medication has repeatedly been found to be safe and effective. The court overturning 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 emphasized that the in-person dispensing requirement was eliminated in 2021, prior to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision of 2022, and not in response to the Supreme Court's decision.

"The in-person dispensing requirement was first suspended by a court in 2020 and later eliminated altogether by the FDA in 2021, before Dobbs came down. Louisiana knows these facts but continues to make this spurious claim in its attempt to reimpose an unnecessary burden on all Americans, even residents of states that protect abortion. Decades after FDA's initial approval of mifepristone and years after the in-person dispensing requirement was eliminated, Louisiana now seeks to re-impose this onerous nationwide restriction on all Americans. Granting such relief would undermine the science-based statutory framework Congress requires and threatens patient access to reproductive health care. As has been well documented, many Americans 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 lawmakers continued.

Louisiana's request for a stay of FDA's 2023 rule would result in the reinstatement of the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone nationwide-and if granted, would have no basis in law, and would threaten the congressionally-mandated evidence-based process for drug regulation. The lawmakers argue that the Fifth Circuit should deny the stay, protecting telehealth and pharmacy access to mifepristone.

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 amicus brief can be read in full HERE.

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