HYDE-SMITH TAKES HEART, ABORTION PILL FIGHT WILL GO ON DESPITE DISAPPOINTING SCOTUS RULING
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), chair of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, today issued the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which challenged FDA deregulation of chemical abortion drugs. The court ruled that the plaintiffs lacked legal grounds to file the case, but did not rule on the merits or substance of the case.
“The Supreme Court’s decision does not mark the end of our fight to protect women and girls from the lawless and reckless actions of the FDA in lifting basic safety regulation of these dangerous chemical abortion drugs. We know these drugs pose serious risks. The FDA’s own label warns that roughly one in 25 women, who take mifepristone, will need emergency medical care.
“Doctors have a duty to stand up for their patients when the government creates a more dangerous landscape by removing the most basic safety regulations. I am glad the court at least recognized the conscience rights of physicians and affirmed that federal law protects doctors from being forced to participate in abortions. Like other pro-life advocates across the nation, I will continue to fight for the health of women and their unborn children.”
Hyde-Smith with U.S. Representative August Pfluger (R-Texas-11) led the filing of a friend-of-the-court brief in this case, arguing that the FDA acted in violation of federal law in 2016 and 2021 when it endangered the health and safety of women and girls by deregulating mifepristone (in combination with misoprostol) to broaden access to the chemical abortion drugs.
In May, Hyde-Smith continued to challenge the lax FDA standards that permit access to chemical abortion drugs without seeing a physician, including the stockpiling of abortion pills through advance prescribing.
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