Pallone Blasts Fifth Circuit Decision on Mifepristone

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) released the following statement today on the Fifth Circuit's decision in Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA dramatically restricting access to mifepristone:

"The courts do not and should not have the authority to substitute their opinions for the scientific decisions of doctors and scientists who oversee drug safety at FDA, especially for medicines that have been on the market and safely used for more than 20 years.

"The Fifth Circuit's decision radically restricts access to mifepristone without scientific basis and imposes onerous requirements on patients in order to access the safe and effective medication. It is clearly intended to impose the extreme beliefs and ideology of the far right over the entire nation.

"The court's use of faulty, biased information that has been debunked by numerous scientists exposes this decision for what it is—a nakedly political act designed to infringe on women's' reproductive rights that the court is attempting to dress in an air of respectability.

"This case should be immediately appealed and the decision must be overturned. Even if conservative judges are not persuaded by the harm this decision poses to reproductive rights, they must understand it will cast our nation's drug approval process into chaos if allowed to stand.

"It is clear Republicans will use every tool at their disposal, including handpicked right-wing judges, to impose their beliefs on all Americans. We must keep fighting back to protect reproductive rights at every turn. This includes overturning this awful ruling and working together to build momentum to pass the Women's Health Protection Act to enshrine the right to abortion in federal statute."