Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) released the following statement after Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas released a decision in Alliance Defending Freedom v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration issuing a preliminary injunction that stays the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) approval of medication for the termination of pregnancy:

“Today’s unprecedented decision from the Northern District of Texas is devastating to women in Texas and across the country, and it is also devastating to our established drug approval system,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.  “The FDA approved mifepristone more than 20 years ago, and medication abortion accounts for more than more than half of abortions performed in the United States today.

“These are difficult days for Texas women, and once again Texas is at the epicenter of efforts to take away our freedom to make our own choices about our bodies, our families, and our futures and to deprive us of access to services, information, and care that enable us to do so,” continued Congresswoman Fletcher.  “We will fight this ruling in the courts, and we must fight this assault on the health and freedom of American women in all the ways we can.”

Mifepristone, also known as the abortion pill, 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.

Congresswoman Lizzie 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.