Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said on Monday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should ignore a Texas federal judge’s ruling suspending the approval of abortion drug Mifepristone.
“This is an FDA-approved drug. I support the usage of FDA-approved drugs, even if we might disagree,” Mace told CNN. “It’s not up to us to decide as legislators or even, you know, as the court system that whether or not this is the right drug to use or not.”
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk halted the approval of mifepristone, but he has also decided to keep his ruling on hold for week to give the government time to appeal, which they did.
Democrats have urged the Biden administration to ignore the ruling and Mace agreed.
“I agree with ignoring it at this point, but there are other lawsuits that are happening right now in other states as well over this issue,” Mace said. “But to look at the case itself, when you look at the law that the judge used, an old law that the Supreme Court said was unconstitutional, this thing should just be thrown out, quite frankly.”
But Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) fiercely pushed back on the suggestion that the Biden administration should ignore the ruling. He suggested on Sunday that House Republicans could defund the FDA if the administration goes that route.
“This is an issue that Republicans have been largely on the wrong side of,” Mace said, referring to abortion. “We have, over the last nine months, not shown compassion toward women, and this is one of those issues that I’ve tried to lead on as someone who’s pro-life and just have some common sense.”
