Washington, D.C. (December 16, 2021)—Today, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Committee Member Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus’s Abortion Rights and Access Task Force, issued the following statements in response to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to eliminate the medically unnecessary in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, one of the two drugs that has been used to safely end early pregnancies in the United States for more than two decades:
“I applaud the FDA’s momentous decision to lift medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone, which will expand access to abortion care for patients across the country,” said Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney. “With abortion rights being bulldozed by hostile courts and state legislatures, the federal government must make every effort to protect and expand access to safe and legal abortion care. Removing the in-person dispensing requirement to medication abortion care is a crucial step toward ensuring that all people can exercise their constitutional right to abortion without stigma or delay. The FDA’s decision is particularly important for people of color, people in rural communities, and people with lower incomes, who are disproportionately harmed by abortion restrictions.”
“With abortion rights under attack nationwide and in the courts, we should be using every tool available to affirm abortion care—including medication abortion—as the fundamental human right that it is,” said Rep. Pressley. “I’m glad the FDA has heeded our calls to lift the in-person dispensing requirement, one of many medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone, which will help ensure more people—including our low-income siblings, Black, brown, LGBTQ+ folks, and other vulnerable communities who have been disproportionately impacted by these restrictions—are able to access the abortion care they deserve. Our work to affirm reproductive justice continues.”
On February 9, 2021, Chairwoman Maloney and Rep. Pressley led all Democratic Committee congresswomen in sending a letter asking the FDA to lift the medically unnecessary in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone.
On February 17, 2021, Chairwoman Maloney and Rep. Pressley published an op-ed in ELLE explaining the urgent need for FDA to lift medically unnecessary restrictions on medication abortion care.
On August 17, 2021, Chairwoman Maloney, Rep. Pressley and Pro-Choice Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Diana DeGette and Barbara Lee led more than 70 of their House Democratic colleagues in introducing a resolution in support of equitable, science-based policies governing access to medication abortion care.