FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      

June 13, 2024   

Contact: [email protected]    

Gov. Whitmer, Lt. Gov. Gilchrist Statements on Mifepristone Decision  

LANSING, Mich. — Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II released the following statements after the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, allowing mifepristone to remain on the market and available for Michiganders. 

Governor Whitmer Statement 

“Mifepristone will remain safe, legal, and available to Michiganders, despite another attempt by partisan, out-of-touch extremists trying to strip away reproductive freedom. The plaintiffs filed this lawsuit in hopes of finding a sympathetic audience in the same Supreme Court that repealed Roe, a decision that has already led to more than a third of American women losing their abortion rights.  

“Amid an ongoing, nationwide assault on abortion and all forms of reproductive health care including birth control and IVF, we must remain vigilant. Extreme state governments, organizations, and their allies will stop at nothing to limit or outright ban reproductive rights nationwide. They will not rest, and neither will we. 

“Here in Michigan, we repealed our criminal bans on abortion and surrogacy, enshrined abortion rights in our state constitution, and made it easier to access birth control and IVF. We will keep fighting like hell in Michigan to protect people’s fundamental freedom to make their own decisions about their own bodies.” 

Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist Statement 

“We know that this is a small win in a longer journey and that the fight to defend reproductive freedom is not over. Republican calls for a national abortion ban pose an existential challenge to reproductive freedom in Michigan and across the country. We will keep standing tall for reproductive freedom and defending every person’s right to make their own decision to start or grow their family.” 

Mifepristone 

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

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 case came up as the result of a Trump-appointed, anti-choice judge in Texas who issued a ruling repealing longstanding FDA authorization for mifepristone grounded in politics, not science. It was then partially upheld by a panel of the Fifth Circuit made up of a majority of Trump appointees. The ruling was appealed to SCOTUS and unanimously rejected today.  

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