FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

March 26, 2024  

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Governor Whitmer Statement as US Supreme Court Hears Case Weighing Access to Mifepristone 

LANSING, Mich. — Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer released the following statement as the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) began hearing oral arguments in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, a case challenging the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, a commonly used abortion medication. 

Governor Whitmer Statement 

“This case is an attempt to force the FDA to withdraw its decades-long approval of mifepristone, a safe, commonly used, and often prescribed medication for abortion. 

“If the anti-reproductive freedom majority on SCOTUS bans mifepristone, or reimposes medically unnecessary restrictions on its use, it will impede access to the most commonly used method of abortion for every woman in American. Even in states where abortion rights are protected like Michigan, the decision would severely limit people’s right to make one of the most important decisions about their family in consultation with their doctor. 

“Amid a nationwide assault on our reproductive health, today’s case is yet another attempt by partisan, out-of-touch extremists to strip away our freedoms. They think they have found a sympathetic audience in the same Supreme Court that repealed Roe, leaving more than a third of U.S. women living in states with abortion bans. We’ve worked hard to ensure that’s not the case in Michigan. We will watch this case closely and keep fighting like hell.” 

Mifepristone 

Medication abortion is used to provide almost 2/3 of all abortion care nationwide. It typically involves taking two different prescribed medications: mifepristone and misoprostol. With a safety record of over 99%, medication abortion care is safer than Tylenol. Mifepristone has been approved by the FDA and used safely for decades.  

Attacks on medication abortion care are politically motivated. They are part of longstanding disinformation campaigns meant to stigmatize abortion and reproductive health care. Medication abortion gives women the freedom to make their own decision about their lives and families.  

Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA 

Today’s SCOTUS case came up as the result of a Trump-appointed, anti-choice judge in Texas who issued a ruling repealing FDA authorization for mifepristone grounded in politics, not science. It was then partially upheld by a panel of the Fifth Circuit made of a majority of Trump appointees. The ruling has been appealed to SCOTUS. A decision against the FDA means American women could lose—or have impeded access to—mifepristone.   

Decisions made by unelected Trump-appointed judges with extreme views on abortion out of step with the vast majority of Americans could pull mifepristone off the market and, in effect, ban it nationwide. While Michigan women will still be able to obtain abortion care, access to mifepristone will be compromised as providers adjust to the new restrictions. Patients will no longer be able to work with their doctors to decide what’s best for them and their families.  

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