Wyden, colleagues urge FDA to protect, expand access to medication abortion

WASHINGTON (KTVZ) -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Senate colleagues this week sent a letter encouraging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to defend Americans’ reproductive rights, and to consider steps to protect and expand access to medication abortion. 

“As states implement new restrictions, it is more important than ever that you take immediate steps to expand access to medication abortion,” Wyden and colleagues wrote to FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf. “We encourage and support your efforts to protect access to abortion and reproductive rights across the nation.”

For over two decades, women have been safely and effectively using medication abortion – Mifepristone and Misoprostol – to terminate a pregnancy. The two medications, when taken together, significantly improve the management of early pregnancy loss and result in fewer complications. Yet, the senators said, right-wing state legislatures across the country have passed laws banning the use of medication abortion, further stripping away women’s access to abortion care and undermining the FDA’s authority to protect the nation’s public health.

In the letter, Wyden and colleagues encourage the FDA to finalize the updated Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for Mifepristone, consider lifting remaining medically unnecessary REMS restrictions, and work with drug sponsors to add a miscarriage management indication for Mifepristone taken with Misoprostol.

Additionally, Wyden has co-sponsored legislation to codify the right to contraception and introduced the My Body, My Data Act to protect personal reproductive data.

The letter was led by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Alongside Wyden, the letter was also signed by U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Angus King, I-Maine, Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii.

The text of the letter is here.