Press Release Georgia
Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Condemns Trump Judge Ruling Meant to Eliminate Access to Mifepristone
This Ruling Aims to Push Medication Abortion Care Out of Reach for Millions
Washington, DC — Today, Trump-appointed Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to block its approval of mifepristone seven days from now—including in states where the right to abortion is protected. Mifepristone is one of the two medications typically used in medication abortion care, which accounts for more than half of all abortion care nationwide and has been safely used for over 20 years. NARAL Pro-Choice America opposed the nomination of Judge Kacsmaryk by Donald Trump to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in 2019.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju released the following statement in response:
“This ruling could block the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, further restricting abortion access in our country, even in states where abortion is protected. This is meant to be a ban, plain and simple, and nearly 65 million Americans could be robbed of this safe, effective abortion care option. Here’s the truth: medication abortion care has been safely used for decades – it’s safer than Tylenol. If there was ever any doubt that GOP extremists want anything other than a ban on all abortion, everywhere, today’s ruling should make it clear that they have no intention of respecting our freedoms.”
This decision comes on the same day that a federal judge in Washington state issued a ruling in an unrelated case directing the FDA to preserve the status quo, sowing further chaos and confusion, and increasing the likelihood that the case will end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
This ruling comes after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—ending the constitutional right to abortion and opening the door for extremist state lawmakers to ban abortion. The Dobbs decision, now compounded by this backdoor ban on medication abortion, is already having a devastating impact throughout the country as 18 states have eliminated or restricted access because of abortion bans. The people hurt most by these bans and restrictions are those who already face barriers to accessing abortion care—including women; Black, Latina/x, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous people; those working to make ends meet; the LGBTQ+ community; immigrants; young people; those living in rural communities; people with disabilities, and other historically oppressed communities.
With this ruling, 64.5 million women of reproductive age—in addition to other people who may not identify as women, and are not captured in this Census data, but are capable of becoming pregnant and may need an abortion—in the United States could lose access to medication abortion. If mifepristone is made unavailable, it will exacerbate the abortion access crisis that continues to sweep the country since Roe v. Wade overturned.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.