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Menendez and Booker join 251 Congressional Democrats in filing amicus brief urging Fifth Circuit to reverse Texas district court’s ruling on mifepristone

An adverse ruling could take mifepristone off the shelves and bar health care professionals from prescribing it in every state in the nation

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both-D-N.J.) joined 253 members of Congress in submitting an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, urging the Court to reverse the district court’s stay on the FDA’s more than 20-year-old approval of mifepristone.

In April, the Supreme Court issued a stay of the lower court ruling that allows mifepristone to remain on the market while the case is under review.

The lawmakers argued that the district court’s decision has no basis in law, poses a serious health risk to pregnant women and other individuals by denying patients in every part of the country access to mifepristone—a safe and effective medication widely used in abortion care and miscarriage management for years—and threatens patients’ access to a wide array of other medications by threatening FDA’s drug approval process, which was designed and mandated by Congress. Accordingly, they asked the Fifth Circuit to reverse the district court’s order.

“FDA’s determination that mifepristone is safe and effective is based on a thorough and comprehensive review process prescribed and overseen by the legislative branch,” wrote the lawmakers. “Since mifepristone’s initial approval in 2000, FDA has repeatedly and consistently affirmed that the medication is safe and effective for its approved conditions of use. FDA’s process and conclusions have been validated by both Congress and the Government Accountability Office—and by the lived experience of over 5 million patients who have used the drug in the United States.”

“The consequences of the district court’s remedy could extend far beyond mifepristone, for it undermines the science-based, expert-driven process that Congress designed for determining whether drugs are safe and effective,” the lawmakers added. “Providers and patients rely on the availability of thousands of FDA-approved drugs to treat or manage a range of medical conditions, including asthma, HIV, infertility, heart disease, diabetes, and more.”

The lawmakers cite reports from doctors and journalists highlighting the increased importance of mifepristone for reproductive health care in the wake of the Dobbs decision, and outline concerns that additional restrictions on access to medication abortion threaten to further increase the maternal mortality rate.

Jay Edwards

Born and raised in Northwest NJ, Jay has a degree in Communications and has had a life-long interest in local radio and various styles of music. Jay has held numerous jobs over the years such as stunt car driver, bartender, voice-over artist, traffic reporter (award winning), NY Yankee maintenance crewmember and peanut farm worker. His hobbies include mountain climbing, snowmobiling, cooking, performing stand-up comedy and he is an avid squirrel watcher. Jay has been a guest on America’s Morning Headquarters,program on The Weather Channel, and was interviewed by Sam Champion.

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