Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Wednesday that he hopes the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the abortion pill.
Ramaswamy appeared in Des Moines, Iowa for a CNN town hall, where anchor Abby Phillip asked him about the Supreme Court’s decision to hear a case that could potentially restrict access nationwide to the abortion drug Mifepristone. Ramaswamy said the case is less about abortion and more about administrative law and the FDA approval process, arguing the agency exceeded its authority by approving 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 on Wednesday agreed to consider appeals from the Biden administration and drug manufacturer Danco defending several actions by the FDA intended to make it easier to acces and use mifepristone in the wake of overturning Roe v. Wade last year.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy gestures as he speaks during the fourth Republican presidential primary debate at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on December 6, 2023. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
In overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the right to an abortion and that the matter should be decided by the states. In the aftermath, 14 states have banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions, and two others have banned abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is around six weeks of gestation.
Mifepristone, known by the brand name Mifeprex, is a pill taken with misoprostol in a two-drug regimen that first deprives an unborn baby of hormones it needs to stay alive and then causes cramps and contractions to expel the dead fetus from the mother’s womb. This process is sometimes referred to as a medication abortion or, by critics, as a chemical abortion.
According to Danco, more than 5 million women have used Mifeprex in the United States since the FDA approved its use in 2000. The popular drug is 97% effective in terminating early pregnancy, although the company says 3% of women who take it will require surgical intervention for ongoing pregnancy, heavy bleeding, incomplete expulsion or other reasons such as patient request.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a case challenging FDA approval of the drug. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Pro-life doctors, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, have challenged FDA approval of mifepristone on the grounds that the agency inappropriately expedited the drug’s approval with mixed success in lower courts.
The Biden administration and the maker of the drug are asking the high court to reverse an appellate ruling that would cut off access to the drug through the mail and impose other restrictions, even in states where abortion remains legal. The restrictions include shortening from the current 10 weeks to seven weeks the time during which mifepristone can be used in pregnancy. The nine justices rejected a separate appeal from abortion opponents who challenged the FDA’s initial approval of mifepristone as safe and effective in 2000.
Ramaswamy said the case is a “symptom” of “what’s going on in the administrative state.”
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Mifepristone, also known as RU-486, is a medication typically used in combination with misoprostol to bring about a medical abortion during pregnancy and manage early miscarriage. A United States appeals court has ruled to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone, ordering a ban on telemedicine prescriptions and shipments of the drug by mail, this issue has created uproar in the USA, according to a report. It also limited its use to up to seven weeks of pregnancy, rather than 10. Mifepristone’s availability remains unchanged for now, following an emergency order from the US Supreme Court in April preserving the status quo during the appeal. (Getty Images)
“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.
Ramaswamy said that if voters disagree with his position, they should turn to the “Democratic process” and expand abortion access “through the front doors of Congress,” pledging that if he’s elected president he will “rescind those unconstitutional federal regulations that Congress never actually passed.”
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In a statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that overturning the FDA’s decisions on the abortion pill “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.
Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.