East Central Texas News

On April 10, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) and Congressman Pat Ryan (NY-18) introduced the Protecting Reproductive Freedom Act, to reaffirm that Mifepristone, also known as the abortion pill, was appropriately approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and that this approval preempts any state law seeking to prohibit or restrict access to the abortion pill. 

“Once again, Texas is at the epicenter of attacks on the health and freedom of Americans with the unprecedented district court decision which, if enforced, would be devastating to women and families across our country and to our established drug-approval system,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.  “It is critical that we do everything we can to preserve and protect the FDA’s authority to approve safe and effective medication, including abortion medication.  I am glad to join Congressman Pat Ryan in introducing the Protecting Reproductive Freedom Act to protect access to mifepristone and to protect the health, dignity, and freedom of women and families across our country.”

“A woman’s right to choose is one of our country’s foundational freedoms. These deeply personal and private medical decisions should be made by women and their families, not by extremist judges, courts, or politicians,” said Congressman Pat Ryan. “Mifepristone is a safe and effective medication that has been prescribed by doctors during the over two decades since the FDA approved it. However, the Texas decision has nothing to do with science or medicine and everything to do with radical groups whose only goal is a national abortion ban. My priority is protecting abortion access for women in New York and across the country. This legislation will reaffirm the FDA's final approval authority and protect doctors who use telemedicine to prescribe medication abortion.”

“Medication abortion care with mifepristone has been a safe, effective, and FDA-approved option for decades, but with one extremist Trump-appointed judge’s ruling, it is now effectively banned—even in states where abortion access is explicitly protected,” said NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju. “Everyone needs to hear the truth, and it is so important for elected officials to set the record straight. We’re grateful to Reps. Ryan and Fletcher for standing with doctors, patients, and everyday Americans defending our freedom to make our own decisions about our bodies. Together with our allies, supporters, and Congressional champions, we will keep fighting until reproductive freedom for all is a reality.”

“Abortion access is under threat across the country – including access to medication abortion, a method that is safe, effective, and has been used by more than six million people since the FDA approved it more than 20 years ago,” said Planned Parenthood Federation of America National Director of Legislative Affairs Georgeanne Usova. “The American public supports abortion access and we need lawmakers at every level of government fighting to help protect abortion rights. Resolutions like the Protecting Reproductive Freedom Act are part of our steps forward.”

Mifepristone was approved as safe and effective by the FDA in 2000.  Medication abortions account for more than 50 percent of the abortions performed in the United States.

The Protecting Reproductive Freedom Act has received endorsements from Planned Parenthood Federation of America and NARAL Pro-Choice America. 

Congresswoman Fletcher is a leader in the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus and has led several efforts to protect access to abortion.  Last year, her bill to protect the right to travel between states to obtain an abortion, the Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act, H.R. 8297, passed the House, but did not advance in the Senate.  She reintroduced the legislation this year.  She previously introduced legislation challenging the bounty system created in Texas Senate Bill 8.  Congresswoman Fletcher was an original cosponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act, which establishes a statutory federal right to abortion free from medically unnecessary restrictions.   

To view full text of the bill, click here.  

Original source can be found here.