Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) released the following statement after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a partial stay of the district court’s order in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Mifepristone is a safe and effective medication used in abortion care, including miscarriage treatment, originally approved for use more than 20 years ago.  It is used in more than half of all abortions in states where abortion remains legal. 

“While the Fifth Circuit panel’s partial stay order provides some immediate relief from the potential catastrophic impact of the lower court’s unprecedented and deeply flawed opinion, it reinforces dubious legal arguments, undermines the FDA drug approval process, and limits access to mifepristone for too many Americans who need it,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.  “The Department of Justice has announced its intention to seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court of the United States, and I support this action to defend the FDA’s scientific judgment and to protect Americans’ access to safe and effective reproductive health care.”

Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher is a leader in the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus and has led several efforts to protect access to abortion.  After a Texas Judge banned abortion medication across the country, she introduced the Protecting Reproductive Freedom Act, H.R. 2573 with Congressman Pat Ryan (NY-18) to reaffirm that the abortion pill was appropriately approved by the FDA. 

She is the lead House sponsor of a 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, which passed the House in the last Congress, and which she reintroduced this year.  She has also 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.