Americans United And Allies Urge Supreme Court To Protect Access To Mifepristone, FDA-Approved Drug Used In Medication Abortions

Americans United for Separation of Church and State joined more than 200 reproductive rights, civil rights, religious and other social justice organizations to urge the U.S. Supreme Court to protect nationwide access to mifepristone, a safe and effective drug used in medication abortions and miscarriage management.

In an amicus brief filed late Friday in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. USDA, Americans United and allied groups stressed that more than 20 years of evidence supports the FDA’s conclusion that medication abortion with mifepristone is safe and effective. The groups assert that U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s unprecedented decision to ban mifepristone imperils the health and safety of millions of people.

Other organizations joining the brief include the American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Reproductive Rights, Lambda Legal, NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Council of Jewish Women, National Education Association, National Women’s Law Center, People For the American Way and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. A full list of organizations is available here.

Judge Kacsmaryk Advanced Agenda Of Religious Extremists Seeking To Ban All Abortions

“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 a key component to ensuring equal access to abortion, especially for Black, indigenous and other people of color, LGBTQ+ people, people working to make ends meet and others who face excessive barriers to health care,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United. “Judge Kacsmaryk’s unconscionable decision to ban mifepristone ignores long-established science and sound 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 is 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.”

Case Features Who’s Who Of Christian Nationalist, Shadow Network Groups

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. Judge Kacsmaryk’s anti-reproductive freedom views reflect the ideology of First Liberty Institute, where he worked prior to his lifetime judicial appointment. Alliance Defending Freedom brought the case. A slew of religious extremist organizations filed briefs supporting the mifepristone ban, from Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council to Jay Sekulow’s American Center for Law and Justice to Mike Pence’s Advancing American Freedom.

More information about the case is available here.