WASHINGTON – Last week, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper, Michael Bennet, Elizabeth Warren, and Tammy Baldwin, along with 38 other senators, introduced a resolution in support of equitable, science-based policies governing access to medication abortion.
“Mifepristone is safe, trusted medication that can be prescribed over a telehealth visit,” said Hickenlooper. “We need to protect this access to reproductive rights, so women get the care they need.”
“The district court’s decision earlier this year to invalidate longstanding approval for mifepristone contradicts scientific evidence and threatens Americans’ access to essential health care. Medication abortion remains safe and legal in Colorado, and I’ll keep fighting to keep it that way,” said Senator Bennet.
“I am fed up with extremists trying to turn back the clock and deny women reproductive health care – especially after decades of science that show that medication abortion is safe and effective. Any threat to the accessibility of this drug would be devastating to both health care providers and patients across the country, and Senate Democrats are demonstrating with this resolution that we’re determined to fight back,” said Senator Warren.
“In Wisconsin and across the country, the right to comprehensive health care is under attack. We need to fight on all fronts to restore and protect the freedom of every American to make their own health care decisions, and that includes protecting access to medication abortion. Mifepristone is a safe, effective, and sometimes lifesaving medication, and it’s high time politicians and judges leave women alone and allow Americans to make their own decisions about their health, families, and future,” said Senator Baldwin.
This resolution, following last week’s announcement that the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to medication abortion access, expresses the sense of Congress that the scientific judgment of the FDA that mifepristone is safe and effective should be respected. It also affirms that law and policy governing access to life-saving, time-sensitive medication abortion care in the United States should be equitable and based on science, and acknowledges the significant harm that would be posed to both health care providers and patients across the nation if mifepristone were sharply curtailed. Medication abortion is currently used for over half of all abortions.
The resolution is endorsed by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Power to Decide, National Council of Jewish Women, The Century Foundation’s Health Equity and Reform Team, National Partnership for Women and Families, Guttmacher Institute, Center for Reproductive Rights, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America), In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, and the EMAA Project.
Earlier this year, Senator Hickenlooper introduced The Protecting Access to Medication Abortion Act to protect current FDA guidelines so that women are guaranteed access to medication abortion. Hickenlooper and Bennet also reintroduced the Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act to protect access to reproductive health care.
Immediately after the Dobbs decision, Hickenlooper and Bennet joined their colleagues to push President Joe Biden to pursue “bold action” to protect the right to abortion. Later that month, they joined their colleagues in urging the Department of Defense to take immediate steps to support and protect service members seeking abortion services.
Last Congress, Hickenlooper and Bennet joined their Democratic colleagues in introducing the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act to clarify that it is illegal for anti-choice states to limit travel across state lines for reproductive health care, and to empower the U.S. Attorney General and affected individuals to bring civil action against those who restrict the right to access care.
The resolution was co-sponsored by 38 other senators. Full text of the resolution can be found HERE.
###