Americans United Celebrates Restoration Of Access To Mifepristone, FDA-Approved Drug Used In Medication Abortions

Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and CEO Rachel Laser issued the following statement in response to today’s Supreme Court order restoring nationwide access to mifepristone, a safe and effective drug used in medication abortions and miscarriage management:

“Abortion is a civil and human right that is essential to our health, equality and freedom. Mifepristone – a medication unequivocally proven to be safe and effective – is key to ensuring equal access to abortion, especially for Black, indigenous and other people of color, people working to make ends meet, LGBTQ+ people and others who face excessive barriers to health care. The court made the right decision to stay Judge Kacsmaryk’s unprecedented order, which ignored long-established science and medical guidance to advance the agenda of religious extremists seeking to ban all abortions and force all of us to live according to their narrow beliefs.

“Abortion bans violate the separation of church and state by enshrining one narrow religious viewpoint into our law. Kacsmaryk’s ideologically driven opinion was of a similar character. If America is to make good on its promise of religious freedom, each of us must be free to make our own decisions about our own bodies based on our own beliefs. That’s why we need a national recommitment to the separation of church and state. It’s the shield that protects freedom without favor and equality without exception for all of us.”

Americans United joined more than 200 reproductive rights, civil rights, religious and other social justice organizations in an amicus brief filed Friday that urged the Supreme Court to protect nationwide access to mifepristone after U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued an unprecedented decision to ban the drug, imperiling the health and safety of millions of people.

This case features a who’s who of Christian Nationalist groups that are part of a well-funded and politically connected shadow network that is working to undermine church-state separation and so many rights that depend on that separation. First Liberty Institute is where Judge Kacsmaryk worked to advance anti-reproductive freedom ideology prior to his lifetime judicial appointment. Alliance Defending Freedom brought the case. A slew of anti-abortion organizations filed briefs supporting the ban, from Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council to Jay Sekulow’s American Center for Law and Justice to Mike Pence’s Advancing American Freedom.