Democrat Senator Calls on Biden Administration to Ignore Potential Ruling Banning Abortion Pill

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) speaks during a hearing in Washington on June 30, 2020. Susan Walsh/Getty Images

A Democrat senator has called on President Joe Biden to ignore a potential ruling that would ban an abortion pill.

“In the coming days, a lawless Trump-appointed judge is expected to ban access to abortion medication nationwide,” posted Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Twitter on Feb. 16.

“I’m calling on the FDA to protect the safety of every woman in America by keeping the drug on the market no matter the ruling.”

Pending before U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk is a case where there’s a potential decision that could prohibit the Food and Drug Administration from allowing the sale of the abortion drug mifepristone.

The case is Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“By illegally approving chemical abortion drugs, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration failed to abide by its legal obligations to protect the health, safety, and welfare of girls and women,” stated the conservative group Alliance Defending Freedom on its website.

“The FDA never studied the safety of the drugs under the labeled conditions of use, ignored the potential impacts of the hormone-blocking regimen on the developing bodies of adolescent girls, disregarded the substantial evidence that chemical abortion drugs cause more complications than surgical abortions, and eliminated necessary safeguards for pregnant girls and women who undergo this dangerous drug regimen,” continued the ADF.

NARAL Pro-Choice America stated on its website that if the ruling goes against the FDA, it “would only exacerbate the abortion access crisis that continues to sweep the country now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, increasing the number of people experiencing a loss of access by 163 percent.”

In a Feb. 16 speech on the Senate floor, Wyden called for a ruling that curbs mifepristone be disregarded.

“So here’s what must happen if and when Judge Kacsmaryk issues his nationwide injunction halting access to mifepristone. President Biden and the FDA must ignore it,” he said.

“Don’t give in to the court washing. Protect the fundamental rights and wellbeing of all women in America,” continued Wyden. “The FDA should go on just as it has for the last 23 years since it first approved mifepristone.

“The FDA needs to keep this medication on the market without interruption regardless of what the ruling says. Doctors and pharmacies should go about their jobs like nothing has changed.”

The White House and FDA did not respond to a request for comment about Wyden’s call to ignore any ruling that would ban mifepristone.