HYDE-SMITH OFFERS BILL TO STOP FDA ABORTION DRUG DISTRIBUTION POLICIES
Miss. Senator Reintroduces SAVE Moms and Babies Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), chair of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, today renewed a legislative effort to fight actions taken by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to broaden the use of chemical abortion drugs.
Hyde-Smith reintroduced the Support and Value Expectant (SAVE) Moms and Babies Act (S.95) on Thursday. This measure would reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement for abortion drugs, blocking their remote distribution by mail or through telemedicine, and also improve reporting requirements for complications.
“The FDA continues to ignore federal law in its irresponsible kowtowing to the abortion industry. Its actions to expand the distribution of chemical abortions as widely as possible runs afoul of the law and puts women at risk of DIY abortion complications,” Hyde-Smith said.
“The Save Moms and Babies Act would reverse the FDA’s reckless and illegal action, and at minimum restore the basic health and safety requirements for these dangerous abortion drugs—which should never have been approved,” she said.
The SAVE Moms and Babies Act would also prevent FDA approval of any new abortion drugs and prevent the further loosening of regulations of abortion drugs with previous FDA approval.
In January, the FDA reiterated its decision to eliminate the in-person dispensing requirement for the chemical abortion drug mifepristone (in combination with misoprostol), and to allow retail and mail-order pharmacies to become certified to dispense abortion drugs.
The SAVE Moms and Babies Act is supported by SBA Pro-life America, Americans United for Life, CatholicVote, March for Life, National Right to Life, Heritage Action, Students for Life of America, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council, Family Policy Alliance, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
U.S. Senators Steve Daines (R-Mont.), James Risch (R-Idaho), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), John Barrasso, M.D. (R-Wyo.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Thune (R-S.D.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are original cosponsors of the Hyde-Smith bill.
U.S. Representative Bob Latta (R-Ohio) introduced the measure (HR.427) in the House on Jan. 20, with U.S. Representative Michael Guest (R-Miss.) as an original cosponsor.
Hyde-Smith introduced the Senate legislation on the same day she and Latta led a bicameral letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, M.D., that details the policy and legal faults in the FDA decision to approve chemical abortion drugs and then further eliminate the in-person dispensing in an attempt to make the do-it-yourself abortion drugs available by mail.
“We therefore insist that the FDA pull the deadly drug mifepristone from the market, or, at minimum, promptly restore and further strengthen the initial basic health and safety requirements for abortion drugs, and comply with Federal criminal law,” the letter said.
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