Menendez joins Senate Democratic colleagues in introducing resolution affirming support for FDA’s scientific judgement that medication abortion is safe, effective
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) joined 39 other democratic lawmakers in introducing a resolution in support of equitable, science-based policies governing access to medication abortion.
This resolution expresses the sense of Congress that the scientific judgement of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that mifepristone is safe and effective should be respected, and that law and policy governing access to life-saving, time-sensitive medication abortion care in the United States should be equitable and based on science.
“Following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, Democrats continue to fight to ensure women across the country can access reproductive health services including mifepristone – a safe and effective abortion medication that has been used by more than five million people in the United States for over 20 years,” Menendez said. “The repercussions of this threat to mifepristone go far beyond abortion care and could put every approved medication in the political crosshairs and cause confusion for patients across the country. The whims of anti-abortion extremists should not override two decades of settled science and safe use.”
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, reproductive rights have been increasingly under attack, with more than a dozen states banning or restricting access to abortion care, and anti-abortion extremists attempting to ban medication abortion nationwide. Medication abortion is currently used for over half of all abortions. The resolution affirms that mifepristone is safe and effective, while acknowledging the significant harm that would be posed to both health care providers and patients across the nation if mifepristone were sharply curtailed. This action comes as Americans continue to grapple with the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and follows this week’s announcement that the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to medication abortion access.
A total of 40 senators joined the resolution — in addition to Senator Menendez, was also Senators Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Angus King (I-Maine), Ron Wyden (D-Wyo.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-N.M.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).
The resolution has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Power to Decide, National Council of Jewish Women, The Century Foundation’s Health Equity and Reform Team, National Partnership for Women and Families, Guttmacher Institute, Center for Reproductive Rights, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America), In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, and the EMAA Project.
As a fierce advocate for women and reproductive rights, Sen. Menendez joined Senate colleagues in November in sending a letter urging the Biden Administration to require federally and state-regulated health insurance plans to fully cover over-the-counter contraceptives, including Opill – the first-ever FDA-approved over-the-counter birth control pill, which will become available in early 2024 – with no copays or out of pocket costs, without a prescription. A total of 48 Senators signed the letter.
In June, Sen. Menendez joined Senate colleagues in reintroducing the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act to block anti-choice states from limiting travel for abortion services and empower the U.S. Attorney General and affected individuals to bring civil action against those who restrict a woman’s right to cross state lines to receive legal reproductive care. That same month, Sen. Menendez joined Senate and House colleagues in reintroducing the bicameral Right to Contraception Act, legislation that would codify and strengthen the right to contraception, which the Supreme Court first recognized more than half a century ago in Griswold v. Connecticut.
In April, Sen. Menendez led a group of Senate colleagues in introducing the Stop Anti-Abortion Disinformation (SAD) Act that would ban false advertising related to abortion services by crisis pregnancy centers. The bill directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prohibit deceptive or misleading advertising related to the provision of abortion services and collect penalties from organizations in violation.
