Dear Friend,
I wanted to uplift for you a very serious and potentially damaging lawsuit on abortion access taking place in Texas federal court right now.
In Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, this case could revoke FDA approval of mifepristone and remove it from the market nationwide.
For those that don’t know, the FDA approved mifepristone for medication abortion in 2000. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists call mifepristone a safe and effective abortion medication and component of treatment and management for early pregnancy loss or miscarriage.
This medication has transformed reproductive care, and is crucial to ensuring abortion access for Americans especially in rural areas and areas that lack direct access to a health center. In fact, medication abortion accounted for more than half of all abortions in the United States, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
A group called “Alliance Defending Freedom” is behind the lawsuit; they’re considered an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center among many other things.
In a normal world, this lawsuit would be dismissed and laughed out of court — but it is a Trump judge overseeing it and could even make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
We were potentially expecting a decision today but because of an extension order issued yesterday we have two more weeks before we could have a decision. You can read more here, too.
I’m on my way to the House Floor, but I’ll definitely continue to keep you posted.
Onward,
Rep. Anna V. Eskamani