Representatives Pat Ryan and Lizzie Fletcher reinstated the Reproductive Freedom Protection Act, which upholds the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval agency for abortion drugs over state law, reports The Hill.
“A woman’s right to vote is one of the fundamental freedoms of our country,” Ryan said in a statement.
“These deeply personal and private medical decisions should be made by women and their families, not by extremist judges, courts or politicians,” she added.
“My priority is protecting access to abortion for women in New York and across the country. This legislation will protect doctors who use telemedicine to prescribe medical abortions,” the Democrat said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also told CNN that the ban on abortifacients is putting the country in “extremely dangerous territory.”
While Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra pointed out that this decision “turned the FDA approval process upside down.”
Last week, District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk denied the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of mifepristone, one of two abortion drugs that have been available in the country for more than two decades.
The FDA appealed Kacsmaryk’s decision, which ruled that the federal government’s approval process was rushed and resulted in the marketing of an unsafe drug.
For his part, President Joe Biden classified the judge’s ruling as a “political and ideological” attack, saying in a statement that “this ruling is another unprecedented step to deprive women of their fundamental freedoms and put their health at risk.”
He added that the only way to ensure abortion rights are protected is to elect members of Congress who support federal legislation to reintroduce access to safe, legal abortion, The Hill reported.
Approved in 2000 after a four-year approval process, this pill can be used for abortions up to 10 weeks of pregnancy and to control early miscarriages.
Most abortions in the United States are performed with drugs rather than surgery, and mifepristone is one of two drugs used in the country.
A separate ruling issued Friday by US District Judge Thomas Rice, a Barack Obama appointee (2009-2017), in Washington’s Eastern District prohibits the FDA from taking mifepristone off the market, contradicting the Texas ruling.
ro/adr