“The facts are adding up: mifepristone is a safe, effective, and routine form of healthcare that remains necessary and legal across the nation.”

“If Republicans and anti-abortion extremists have their way, access to mifepristone will be cut in every state, blue or red…”

Video (YouTube)

WASHINGTON – Today in a House Oversight Committee hearing, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus’ Abortion Rights and Access Task Force, played “Fact or Fiction” with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf to emphasize the safety and efficacy of medication abortion drug mifepristone.

In her question line, Rep. Pressley combatted Republican disinformation about mifepristone and underscored the importance of protecting medication abortion access across the country.

A full transcript of her remarks is available below and video is available here.

Transcript: Pressley Plays ‘Fact or Fiction’ With FDA Commissioner, Affirms Safety of Mifepristone

House Oversight Committee

April 11, 2024

REP. PRESSLEY: Thank you, Commissioner, for joining us today.

First let me just also acknowledge and thank you for your responsiveness and your swift action in my outreach to you regarding formaldehyde in chemical hair relaxers. Also, the shortage of children’s Tylenol and Motrin. 

Personally, as someone living with alopecia totalis, I also appreciate your efforts in that regard. And finally, for the purposes of my question line today, reproductive justice.

Dr. Califf, last year, the FDA took pivotal steps to protect medication abortion access, including by allowing abortion pills to be prescribed by telehealth and distributed by retail pharmacies.

Medication abortions accounted for 63 percent of all abortions performed in the United States last year. If mifepristone is pulled from the market, access to routine medical care would be jeopardized for people across the country.

As part of their draconian, unpopular goal for a national abortion ban — let’s call it what that is: forced birth, which for many will result in forced death — Republicans continue to try to block access to medications like mifepristone by spreading baseless conspiracy theories.

The fake news is rampant. 

I have a teenage daughter and we like to play a game called “Two Truths and a Lie,” so if you’ll indulge me, we’re going to do some variation of that now.

I want to use my platform to clarify some of this disinformation by playing a game called, “Fact or Fiction.” 

Dr. Califf, I’ll say a statement and you’ll reply with just one word stating if it is “fact” or “fiction.”

Let’s start with this:

Fact or Fiction: The FDA conducted a rigorous review of extensive research on mifepristone.

DR. CALIFF: Fact.

REP. PRESSLEY: Correct, that’s a FACT. Mifepristone has been on the market for almost 24 years and more than 100 studies have affirmed its safety since.

Fact or Fiction: Judges know better than public health experts if medication abortion is safe. 

DR. CALIFF: The Supreme Court is currently adjudicating a case that involves that. But I am on record, so are all of us, it would be bad for the entire system of drug development and availability of medications in the United States if judges begin overruling the FDA as a matter of routine.

REP. PRESSLEY: Thank you, so that’s FICTION. The FDA, not the courts, determines the safety of drugs.

Fact or Fiction: Mifepristone, as a form of medication abortion, is safe and effective. 

DR. CALIFF: Fact.

REP. PRESSLEY: Correct, that’s FACT.

Research shows that less than 1 percent of patients experience serious side effects, posing fewer risks even, than Advil or Tylenol.

The facts are adding up: Mifepristone is a safe, effective, and routine form of healthcare that remains necessary and legal across the nation.

Now, this may be a game for today’s hearing, but unlike Republicans I have no interest in playing games with people’s lives. And this is gravely serious.

For many, especially Black women, pregnancy and childbirth can be life-threatening.

Now I know this is a shock to the far-right, extremist, old white men making these decisions, but there are hundreds of reasons why someone might want – or need – to terminate a pregnancy with medication abortion.

And policymakers and judges should not be the ones making decisions for them.

If Republicans and anti-abortion extremists have their way, access to mifepristone will be cut in every state, blue or red, even in my district, the Massachusetts 7^th, where abortion care is legally protected.

Since I’ve been elected to Congress, I have been proud to lead the Abortion Rights and Access Task Force under our Pro-Choice Caucus, fighting alongside my colleagues for mifepristone access.

I’ll continue to fight to affirm abortion care as the fundamental human right that it is, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

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