Venkat signs onto amicus brief in lawsuit about mifepristone
The U.S. FDA first approved mifepristone in 2000
Allegheny County Delegation October 12, 2023 | 4:05 PM
PITTSBURGH, Oct. 12 – Today, state Rep. Arvind Venkat, D-Allegheny, signed onto an amicus brief in Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance For Hippocratic Medicine asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the FDA’s longstanding decision to approve mifepristone for medication abortions.
Filed in August 2023, the lawsuit challenges the U.S. FDA’s approval of mifepristone.
“Access to an abortion is critical to reproductive health care,” Venkat said. “As an emergency physician, I signed onto this amicus brief to take a stand against this political attack on medication abortions. This lawsuit would potentially limit Americans’ access to mifepristone, one of two medications used for abortions in the U.S., creating a further crisis in women’s health care.”
“As we face a crisis about abortion access in this country, state lawmakers are on the frontlines of determining the future of abortion care,” said Jennifer Driver, senior director of reproductive rights at State Innovation Exchange. “Now, in a case that has the potential to reverberate across all 50 states, those same lawmakers call on the Supreme Court to intervene before the landscape for care is further decimated.”
The Alliance For Hippocratic Medicine first challenged the FDA’s approval of mifepristone on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022.