U.S. Bishop Chairman for Pro-Life Activities Welcomes Supreme Court Decision…

January 15, 2021

WASHINGTON - On Tuesday night, the Supreme Court of the United States granted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s request to reinstate its authority to enforce important health and safety requirements for mifepristone, a chemical abortion drug. On July 13, 2020, a federal district court judge in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction preventing the FDA from enforcing the “Elements to Assure Safe Use” in the Risk Evaluation Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for mifepristone and allowing the drug to be dispensed by clinics, medical offices, and hospitals through the use of mail or delivery service. The Supreme Court’s decision in Food and Drug Administration v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (FDA v. ACOG) stays this nationwide injunction. Litigation on this issue continues in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities issued the following statement:

“We welcome the Supreme Court’s reinstatement of the FDA’s ability to enforce important and long-standing health and safety requirements related to chemical abortion drugs. Mail order mifepristone compounds the risks and trauma of abortion by encouraging women to end the lives of their children in their own bathrooms, often without any medical attention or follow-up care. This dangerous, painful, and emotionally bleak process results in the death of innocent unborn lives and often has lasting negative impacts on women. The inalienable dignity of women and their unborn children deserves so much more.”