Half Of Congressional Republicans Want Abortion Pill Ruling To Stand

More than half of congressional Republicans are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow a lower court ruling revoking the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone to stand, a contrast with the party’s attempts to publicly ignore and downplay the judicial battle over access to abortion medication. 

The amicus curiae brief, filed by Americans United for Life , has the signatures of 147 GOP members of Congress, including 23 senators and 124 House members. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), one of the few Republican senators to openly praise the ruling, is the lead Senate signer. Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) is the lead House signer.

The Supreme Court is considering a Justice Department request to stay the ruling handed down by U.S. District Judge Matt Kacsmaryk, a Texas-based nominee of former President Donald Trump. Kacsmaryk’s ruling, which revoked the FDA’s approval in 2000 of the safe and widely used drug, has faced heavy criticism from Democrats for restricting abortion rights and from pharmaceutical companies for threatening the authority of the FDA.

“The Supreme Court has an historic opportunity to protect women and girls from the dangers of chemical abortion drugs,” Steven Aden, the chief counsel at Americans United for Life, said in a statement announcing the brief. “The FDA has deregulated these drugs at the expense of patient safety.”

Amicus curiae briefs (Latin for “friend of the court”) are regularly used by members of Congress to weigh in on issues before the court. 

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade’s guarantee of abortion rights last year, Republicans have found themselves facing an intense political backlash even as they seek to further limit abortion access . Public surveys show a clear majority of Americans want abortion medication to remain legal, and the GOP has largely avoided commenting on Kacsmaryk’s ruling .  

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) blasted her congressional colleagues who signed on to the brief.

“I am astounded by my Republican colleagues’ cruel disregard for women’s right to control their own bodies, their eagerness to defy the American people by asking a court to deny patients access to an FDA-approved drug, and their complete indifference to how overruling the FDA’s experts with an unprecedented ruling by a sole federal district court would upend the agency’s authority to do its job and threaten patients’ ability to get so many other critical medications,” Murray said.

Last week, Murray led congressional Democrats’ own amicus curiae brief asking the Supreme Court to grant the Justice Department’s request. Every Democratic senator signed the brief except Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and all but 10 House Democrats also signed on.