FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Doctors for America
PO Box 53313
1921 Florida Ave NW
Washington, DC 20009-9997
March 27, 2024
Doctors for America’s FDA Task Force Urges Supreme Court to Uphold FDA Approval of Mifepristone
Washington, D.C. – Doctors for America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Task Force is calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to reject anti-abortion groups’ attempts to severely limit or ban patient access to the abortion medication, mifepristone.
Tuesday’s hearing in the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA reaffirmed that the judicial campaign to ban mifepristone is not an effort to protect patients, but rather a political pursuit to further restrict access to abortion. This attempt to overturn the FDA’s decades-old approval of mifepristone not only jeopardizes the health and well-being of patients but dangerously threatens to undermine the FDA’s authority over drug approvals.
This is why, earlier this year, DFA in partnership with the Reproductive Health Coalition (RHC) filed an amicus brief amplifying first-hand physician testimony on how restrictions on access to mifepristone have impacted patients. One of the DFA members who bravely shared their story in that brief, Dr. Cheryl Hamlin, spoke at a rally held outside of the Supreme Court.
As an OB/GYN, Dr. Hamlin shared the ways providers and patients rely on mifepristone as a safe and effective treatment, and reiterated DFA’s strongly held belief that federal courts should not interfere with FDA drug approvals.
Dr. Stephanie Liou, a pediatrician in Chicago and a leader of DFA’s work in Health Justice and Equity has this to say. “When I tell a patient that they are pregnant, I want to provide them with evidence-based information so they know what all their options are. As a physician, it is my duty to ensure that my patients receive respectful and compassionate care. Denying access to a safe and often life-saving medication like mifepristone violates the sacred patient-doctor relationship. This means that doctors will no longer be able to do our jobs properly, and patients will be harmed.”
DFA urges the Supreme Court to put patients over politics and affirm the FDA’s approval of the use of mifepristone to end pregnancy through ten weeks gestation.
For press inquiries for members of the FDA Task Force Doctors for America please contact Alli Everton with Continuum Health Group ([email protected]).
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About Doctors for America:
Doctors for America mobilizes doctors and medical students to be leaders in putting patients over politics to improve the health of our patients, communities, and nation. We are 27,000 physicians and medical students in all 50 states, representing all areas of specialization. Our impact areas focus on access to affordable care, community health and prevention, and health justice and equity. DFA focuses solely on what is best for our patients, not on the business side of medicine, and does not accept any funding from pharmaceutical or medical device companies; which uniquely positions DFA as the organization that puts patients over politics and patients over profits. Find out more at doctorsforamerica.org and on Twitter @drsforamerica.