AMA Blasts Abortion Pill Ruling: Drug Is Safe, Effective

From the president of the America Medical Association:

Today’s court decision from a federal district court in Texas staying longstanding approval of mifepristone flies in the face of science and evidence and threatens to upend access to a safe and effective drug that has been used by millions of people for more than 20 years.

The court’s disregard for well-established scientific facts in favor of speculative allegations and ideological assertions will cause harm to our patients and undermines the health of the nation.

By rejecting medical facts, the court has intruded into the exam room and has intervened in decisions that belong to patients and physicians.

The court’s rebuff of scientific facts also undermines informed decisions, erodes trust in institutions, exacerbates social divides, and places individual and collective health at risk.

Additionally, this decision introduces the extraordinary, unprecedented danger of courts upending longstanding drug regulatory decisions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Doing so goes against the established scientific process that leads to those decisions and puts other drugs at risk of being subject to similar efforts.

Substituting the opinions of individual judges and courts in place of extensive, evidence-based, scientific review of efficacy and safety through well-established FDA processes is reckless and dangerous.

We’ve also witnessed efforts by state legislatures to limit access to this medication–we believe that FDA regulations should supersede state law to avoid a patchwork of state-level, non-evidence-based restrictions that interfere with the appropriate use of a safe and effective drug and frustrate access to medically necessary care.

There is no evidence that people are harmed by having access to this safe and effective medication. To the contrary, there is substantial evidence that the denial of needed abortion care without justification carries a psychological, physical, and economic toll.

We will continue to support access to evidence-based health care, including abortion medication, and oppose intrusions that undermine our patients’ health.

American Medical Association: “By rejecting medical facts, the court has intruded into the exam room and has intervened in decisions that belong to patients and physicians.”https://t.co/EGXyPW9LPO

— Kate Berner (@KateBerner46) April 8, 2023