December 15, 2023

Warren, Baldwin, and 40 Democratic Senators Introduce Resolution Affirming Support for FDA’s Scientific Judgment That Medication Abortion Is Safe and Effective

Text of Bill (PDF)

Washington, D.C. —  Today, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) led 40 other lawmakers in introducing a resolution in support of equitable, science-based policies governing access to medication abortion.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, reproductive rights have been increasingly under attack, with more than a dozen states banning or restricting access to abortion care, and anti-abortion extremists attempting to ban medication abortion nationwide. Medication abortion is currently used for over half of all abortions.

This resolution expresses the sense of Congress that the scientific judgment of the FDA that mifepristone is safe and effective should be respected, and 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. The resolution affirms that mifepristone is safe and effective, while acknowledging the significant harm that would be posed to both health care providers and patients across the nation if mifepristone were sharply curtailed.

This action comes as Americans continue to grapple with the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and follows this week’s announcement that the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to medication abortion access. 

“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.

“MAGA Republicans have been clear they’ll stop at nothing to enact a national abortion plan – even questioning the scientific expertise of FDA.  Make no mistake, Mifepristone is safe and effective. And Congress gave FDA the authority to evaluate and ensure the safety and efficacy of drugs. Democrats will never stop fighting for women’s health,” said Senate Majority Leader Schumer.

"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.

“Our resolution resoundingly reaffirms the need for abortion medication to remain accessible. This medication has been used safely and effectively for twenty years, and is the most common form of abortion care. With Republicans imposing draconian restrictions on reproductive care across the country, we must ensure abortion medication remains available to all who need it,” said Senator Blumenthal.

“In a post-Roe world, we must follow the science and maintain access to lifesaving abortion medication,” said Senator Butler. “Generations of women are watching their rights get stripped away in real-time, and this resolution underscores the need to protect their reproductive freedom. The Supreme Court must preserve access to essential reproductive health care and the right to bodily autonomy.”

“Health care decisions should be made between women and their doctors, and we must protect women’s access to all FDA-approved treatments, including Mifepristone,” said Senator Carper. “This resolution reaffirms that access to lifesaving, time-sensitive medication should be equitable and based on science.”

“More than two decades ago, the FDA determined mifepristone to be safe and effective. Since then, this medication has been widely and safely used by women to end early stage pregnancies and help manage miscarriages,” said Senator Durbin. “If the Supreme Court upholds the Fifth Circuit’s decision, which ignored science and the law in turning back the clock on mifepristone regulations, it would upend the FDA review process, jeopardize access to a host of critically important medications, and impose new restrictions on abortions even in states where the procedure remains legal. This Resolution restates the obvious: that the FDA, not politically-motivated organizations, should be trusted to make determinations about what drugs are safe and effective. And that, ultimately, reproductive health care decisions ought to be made between women and their doctors, not politicians or judges.”

“It’s plain and simple: abortion is health care, and health care is a human right,” said Senator Markey. “Pregnant people and their health care providers are facing escalating attacks on their care including the criminalization of abortions. Our government has a moral obligation to protect not only the right but also the ability to access abortion medication — safe and effective medication that is backed by science. Let’s keep medical decisions between patients and doctors—not between patients and the GOP.”

“Mifepristone is a safe, effective drug approved by the FDA more than 20 years ago that millions of women rely on, so it should come as no surprise it’s been chosen as the right wing’s next target. Cutting off access to medication abortion would bring us one step closer to a national abortion ban. I will keep fighting to keep government out of women’s health care,” said Senator Murphy.

“Reproductive freedom is a fundamental right, and we must stand resolute in affirming access to lifesaving abortion care,” said Senator Padilla. “With the Supreme Court and MAGA Republicans constantly threatening longstanding, essential reproductive freedoms, it’s imperative that safe, science-based drugs like mifepristone are equitably accessible and protected to the fullest extent under the rule of law.”

“Mifepristone is a safe, effective, and FDA-approved drug. I helped introduce this resolution because it is dangerous to restrict access to this critical medication,” said Senator Stabenow.  

“Individuals’ health care decisions should be grounded in science and made along with their doctors – not left to the whims of far-right judges and politicians. As Trump-appointed judges and Republican lawmakers continue their ruthless attacks on reproductive freedoms – and the health care providers and resources that support them – we will keep fighting to ensure scientifically tested, safe, and effective options remain accessible to everyone who needs them,” said Senator Van Hollen.

“Mifepristone is safe, effective, and used by millions of women each year—and is essential that we fight back against Republicans' anti-abortion and anti-science efforts to drastically restrict access to necessary and lifesaving abortion care throughout the entire country,” said Senator Murray. “And let’s not forget, anti-abortion extremists looking to rip away access to mifepristone also threaten to upend FDA’s ability to approve all kinds of other safe medications too—everything from insulin to chemotherapy drugs. Senate Democrats are going to keep working every day to protect and restore abortion rights at every turn."

The resolution was also co-sponored by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Angus King (I-Maine), Ron Wyden (D-Wyo.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-N.M.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Patty Murray (D-Wash.)

The resolution has been 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.

As the right to abortion and essential reproductive health care has come under attack from extremist Republicans and radical judges, Senator Warren has led work to protect reproductive freedom:

  • On May 30, 2023, Senators Warren, Duckworth (D-Ill.), Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Smith (D-Minn.) sent letters to five leading health care organizations representing physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and hospitals – the American Medical Association, Physicians for Reproductive Health, National Nurses United, the American Pharmacists Association, and the American Hospital Association – asking for updates since the organizations’ responses to the senators’ questions about threats to abortion sent in August and

  • SeptemberOn April 7, 2023, Senator Warren released a statement on the decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to stay the FDA’s decades-old approval of mifepristone.

  • On March 8, 2023, Senators Warren, Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Hirono Introduced the Upholding Protections for Health and Online Location Data (UPHOLD) Privacy Act, legislation that would expand protections for Americans’ personal health data by preventing companies from profiting off of personally identifiable health data for advertising purposes, allow consumers greater access to and ownership over their personal health information, restrict companies’ ability to collect or use information about personal health without user consent, and ban data brokers from selling location data.

  • On March 8, 2023, Senators Warren, Mazie Hirono, along with Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) sent a letter to Walgreens CEO Rosalind Brewer, expressing concern regarding recent reports that the company would not dispense medication abortion in 21 states where Republican Attorneys General have threatened the company.

  • On February 13, 2023, Senator Warren and eleven other senators sent a letter to President Biden urging his administration to take new steps to protect reproductive freedom amid divided control of Congress and increasing efforts to restrict access to abortion. 

  • On November 18, 2022, Senator Warren led eight of her colleagues in a letter encouraging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to defend America's reproductive rights, and to consider steps to protect and expand access to medication abortion. 

  • On November 1, 2022, Senator Warren, Duckworth, Hirono, and Smith released a report – based on information provided by leading health care providers – revealing the devastating consequences of state abortion bans and restrictions enacted by right-wing legislatures and the impacts of Senate Republicans’ extreme proposal to ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks.

  • On August 4, 2022, Senator Warren, Hirono, and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) urging concrete actions the Department can take to help meet President Biden’s goal of protecting and expanding access to medication abortion.

  • On July 29, 2022, Senators Warren and Hirono led 23 of their colleagues in a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), calling on the VA to take immediate administrative action to offer abortions and all abortion-related services to veterans and eligible dependents

  • On July 21, 2022, Senators Warren and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) sent letters to Bark Technologies, Gaggle.net, GoGuardian, and Securly Inc., raising concerns that the software these companies use to monitor students’ online activity could be used to criminalize or punish students who are seeking information about abortion services and reproductive health care.

  • On July 19, 2022, Senators Warren, Smith, and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) led a group of their Democratic colleagues in introducing the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act to provide robust mandatory funding for the Title X Family Planning Program.

  • On July 14, 2022, Senators Warren, Cory Booker (D-N.J), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and over a dozen Senate Democrats wrote to President Biden and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, urging them to immediately declare national and public health emergencies over Americans’ access to reproductive care.

  • On July 11, 2022, Senators Warren and Klobuchar sent letters to Facebook and Instagram, calling on them to address their reported censorship of posts related to abortion services, following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

  • On July 7, 2022, Senator Warren announced two key data brokers’ commitments to permanently stop selling the location data of people seeking abortion services.

  • On June 25, 2022, following the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Senators Warren and Smith wrote an op-ed in the New York Times laying out the next steps in the fight to protect the right to an abortion, including calling for the declaration of a public health emergency.

  • On June 23, 2022, Senators Warren and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) introduced the Stop Anti-Abortion Disinformation Act, legislation that would crack down on false advertising that crisis pregnancy centers employ to dissuade patients from getting the reproductive care they need, including abortion care. The Senators reintroduced the legislation in April 2023. 

  • On June 15, 2022, Senator Warren introduced the Health and Location Data Protection Act, legislation that bans data brokers from selling some of the most sensitive data available about everyday Americans: their health and location data. 

  • On June 7, 2022, Senators Warren and Murray led 23 of their Senate colleagues in a letter to President Biden urging him to immediately issue an executive order directing the federal government to develop a national plan to defend Americans’ fundamental reproductive rights, including their right to an abortion.

  • On May 17, 2022, Senator Warren led thirteen of her Senate colleagues in letters to two data brokers demanding answers regarding their collection and sale of the cellphone-based location data of people who visit abortion clinics such as Planned Parenthood. 

  • On May 10, 2022, Senator Warren delivered a speech on the floor of the United States Senate on the need to protect the constitutional right to an abortion, pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, and fight back against Republican extremism. 

  • On May 9, 2022, Senator Warren wrote an op-ed in Marie Claire about the need to enshrine the right to an abortion in federal law. 

  • On May 3, 2022, when the draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked, Senator Warren spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court twice to activists, protestors, and the nation about the need to protect abortion rights.

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