FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
09.09.19
Contact: Alexa Barrett, Communications Assistant
Email: alexa@equityfwd.org
Phone: (914) 602 - 3147
FDA Sued for Limiting Access to Safe, Widely-Used Abortion Medication
New York, NY – Today, the health care provider Aid Access filed a lawsuit against the the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for blocking the group from mailing medication abortion pills to patients in the U.S. The FDA’s own research has found that the drugs in question — Mifeprex/Mifepristone — are safe and effective. While the drugs are increasingly commonly used in and outside of the U.S., they remain heavily regulated by the FDA and cannot be purchased at commercial pharmacies.
Mary Alice Carter, senior advisor to Equity Forward, said the following in response:
“The Trump administration has a track record of selectively enforcing and conveniently ignoring policies based on the personal beliefs of its overwhelmingly anti-abortion staff. While the FDA has long stayed away from playing these political games, we wouldn’t put it past Trump and HHS Secretary Azar to meddle in its business, too. We hope the FDA’s decision in this case was based only on standards the agency would apply to any other medication and not on politics.”
Carter continued, “We will be watching this case closely as we wait for the announcement of a new head of the FDA in the weeks ahead.”
The FDA is a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), an agency that President Trump and Secretary Alex Azar have staffed top to bottom with political appointees hostile to abortion access. The FDA’s crackdown on Aid Access comes on the heels of a broad campaign by HHS toundermine the nation’s family planning program by forcing out proven providers and empowering anti-abortion organizations.
Carter went on to say, “If it were not for the politicization of reproductive health care, people in the U.S. would already have greater access to this medication. Anti-abortion politicians have severely limited people’s ability to access the health services that are safe and widely used. It’s time our lawmakers started letting science, not ideology, guide policy.”
For more information on the anti-abortion extremists running HHS, visit HHS Watch.
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Equity Forward is a watchdog organization that works to ensure transparency and accountability among anti-reproductive health groups and individuals.