Wyden leads Oregon Democrats to Fight To Protect Mifepristone Access, Women’s Health Care, And FDA Authority

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said today he is leading Senate and House colleagues, including U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and U.S. Representatives Suzanne Bonamici, Andrea Salinas, Val Hoyle, Janelle Bynum and Maxine Dexter, in filing 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.

The lawmakers argued that mifepristone already undergoes a rigorous FDA approval process, and the medication has repeatedly been found to be safe and effective. A court overturning this decision would limit who could receive this vital and life-saving medication. This decision 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 lawmakers 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 cannot 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 lawmakers 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."

"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 lawmakers concluded.

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.

Oregon Democrats have long been champions for expanding access to women's essential health care. In 1990, Wyden chaired the first ever congressional hearing on mifepristone. In 2023, Wyden introduced the My Body, My Data Act, which would have created a new national standard to protect reproductive and sexual health data. In 2025, Wyden and Merkley condemned the Trump administration's politicization of the scientific review process at the FDA and the unnecessary call for review of mifepristone.

The amicus brief was led by Wyden and U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Patty Murray, D-Wash., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and U.S. Representatives Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Katherine Clark, D-Mass., Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., Diane DeGette, D-Colo., Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass. In addition to Merkley, Bonamici, Salinas, Hoyle, Bynum and Dexter, the amicus brief was signed by 43 Democratic U.S. Senators and 201 Democratic U.S. Representatives.

The full text of the amicus brief is here.

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