The Justices on the bench aren’t supposed to be influenced by politicians. But that could all be changing.
Because the Supreme Court was just delivered a massive surprise from this Republican.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy stated Wednesday that he believes the United States Supreme Court would reverse the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill.
Ramaswamy spoke at a CNN town hall in Des Moines, Iowa, where host Abby Phillip questioned him on the Supreme Court’s decision to hear a case that might limit access to the abortion medicine Mifepristone across the country.
Ramaswamy claims the lawsuit is more about administrative law and the FDA approval procedure than it is about abortion, claiming the FDA overstepped its power by authorizing mifepristone in 2000.
“It’s my opinion — it’s the Supreme Court’s that’ll matter, but I’m pretty sure they’re going to come down right where I am on this — that the FDA exceeded its statutory authority in using an emergency approval to approve something that doesn’t fit Congress’ criteria for what actually counts as an emergency approval,” Ramaswamy told voters at the town hall.
The Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to hear appeals from the Biden administration and drug manufacturer Danco challenging the FDA’s actions to make Mifepristone more accessible and usable in the aftermath of the Roe v. Wade decision last year.
In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court held in June 2022, overturning Roe v. Wade, that the United States Constitution does not guarantee the right to abortion and that the question should be determined by the states.
In the aftermath, 14 states, with some exceptions, have banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy, and two others have banned abortion once a fetal heartbeat is found, which is around six weeks of gestation.
Mifepristone, also known as Mifeprex, is a pill that is taken in conjunction with Misoprostol in a two-drug regimen that first deprives an unborn baby of the hormones it requires to survive and then produces cramps and contractions to evacuate the dead fetus from the mother’s womb.
According to Danco, over 5 million women in the United States have used Mifeprex since the FDA approved its usage in 2000.
Although the popular medicine is 97% effective in terminating early pregnancy, the firm claims that 3% of women who use it will require surgical intervention due to a continued pregnancy, excessive bleeding, incomplete expulsion, or other factors such as patient desire.
Pro-life doctors, supported by the Alliance Defending Freedom, have successfully challenged the FDA’s clearance of Mifepristone in lower courts on the grounds that the government improperly accelerated the drug’s approval.
The Biden administration and the medicine’s manufacturer are seeking the Supreme Court to overturn an appellate rule that would restrict access to the prescription via mail and impose other restrictions, even in areas where abortion is still allowed.
The restrictions include reducing the time during which Mifepristone can be taken in pregnancy from 10 weeks to seven weeks. Separately, the nine justices rejected an appeal from abortion opponents who questioned the FDA’s first clearance of Mifepristone as safe and effective in 2000.
The case, according to Ramaswamy, is a “symptom” of “what’s going on in the administrative state.”
“The people who we elect to run the government, they’re not even the ones who actually run the government right now. It’s the bureaucrats in those three letter agencies that are pulling the strings today,” he said at the town hall.
If voters disagree with his position, Ramaswamy says they should use the “Democratic process” to expand abortion access “through the front doors of Congress,” promising that if elected president, he will “rescind those unconstitutional federal regulations that Congress never actually passed.”
Overturning the FDA’s judgments on the abortion pill, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, “threatens to undermine the FDA’s scientific, independent judgment and would reimpose outdated restrictions on access to safe and effective medication abortion.”
“This Administration will continue to stand by FDA’s independent approval and regulation of mifepristone as safe and effective. As the Department of Justice continues defending the FDA’s actions before the Supreme Court, President Biden and Vice President Harris remain firmly committed to defending women’s ability to access reproductive care,” she said.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
