In The News

By Henry Rodgers

A group of House Republicans, led by Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter, sent a letter Wednesday to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) calling on them to rescind their early January decision to allow pharmacies to dispense the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone.

The letter was first obtained by the Daily Caller and addressed to the Commissioner of the FDA Robert Califf. In the letter, the 25 lawmakers say the decision will “fundamentally harm the pharmacist-patient relationship” and is “contrary to the FDA’s mission statement” of protecting public health by making sure pharmaceutical drugs are safe to take.

The FDA used to only allow a number of mail-order pharmacies to dispense the drugs under a pandemic-related rule change. Before that doctors had to provide women with the pills themselves.

“Post offices and pharmacies are not abortion clinics. The Biden administration is willfully playing politics with women and children’s lives, choosing to experiment on their bodies instead of following the science, which points to severe risks and poor health outcomes for patients who use mifepristone for elective abortions,” Carter told the Caller before sending the letter.

“As a pharmacist, I would never prescribe a drug that endangers the life of a mother or her unborn child. This is dangerous, irresponsible, and must be addressed,” Carter added.

The other 24 House Republicans who signed the letter include Reps. Jeff Duncan, Brad Wenstrup, August Pfluger, William Timmons, Debbie Lesko, Darrell Issa, Brian Babin, John Moolenaar, Brian Mast, Lisa McClain, Thomas Tiffany, Russell Fry, Jerry Carl, Bill Posey, Rick Allen, Andrew Clyde, Bill Johnson, Ben Cline, Bob Good, Jake Ellzey, Lauren Boebert, Daniel Webster, Robert Aderholt and Randy Feenstra.

The FDA responded to the Caller when asked about the letter, saying: “The FDA has received the letter and will respond directly to the members of Congress.”