December 13, 2023

Duckworth Reaction to Supreme Court Agreeing to Hear Case on Access to Mifepristone

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) issued the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider a case that could determine the future of widespread access to Mifepristone, a medication that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first approved in 2000 and that doctors have safely and effectively prescribed for more than 20 years until a Trump-appointed Judge’s extreme and unprecedented decision to overturn a long-standing FDA drug-approval for the first time in our nation’s history: 

“Bottom line: every American should be able to access medication in a manner that the FDA—the federal agency that Congress literally established to make such decisions—determines is safe and effective—and Mifepristone should be no exception.

“With a far-right Supreme Court that already threw out 50 years of constitutional rights by overturning Roe now agreeing to hear this case, it’s understandable that many women across America are afraid that this might be the first step toward a frightening future where their healthcare decisions aren’t just decided by themselves and their doctors, but also by the personal beliefs of Samuel Alito or any other ultra-conservative judge.

“Empowering Judges, and not medical experts, to determine how best to provide safe and effective access to FDA-approved medication would create a dangerous new status quo enabling them to overrule the FDA and directly regulate access to any medication as they see fit, no matter how unqualified they are to make such decisions. That may be a dream for deep-pocketed donors and corporate executives with direct access to Supreme Court Justices, but would be an utter nightmare for millions of Americans who could lose access to the safe and effective medication they need.

“I hope the Supreme Court recognizes the gravity of this decision and ensures mifepristone remains widely available, and I’ll keep working in Congress to enshrine full reproductive rights into law.”

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