LANSING, Mich. (April 8, 2023) — Sen. Erika Geiss (D-Taylor) issued the following statement regarding the recent rulings on access to abortion medication:
“Last June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision which continues to impact women’s access to abortion. Yesterday, an activist Texas federal judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryck banned mifepristone, a common FDA-approved medication used for abortion for two decades. This decision created another obstacle and imposed another attack on a reproductive freedom and the right to bodily autonomy. The decision still hangs in the balance, however, as federal Judge Thomas O. Rice of Washington state blocked the agency from taking ‘any action to remove mifepristone from the market or otherwise cause the drug to become less available,’ effectively staying Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling.
“Despite the legal quagmire we find ourselves in, it is evident that self-managed, medication abortion – namely mifepristone and misoprostol – is a safe and effective way to end an early pregnancy. Furthermore, people have been self-managing abortion care for as long as abortion has existed. Due to an increasingly hostile legal landscape, more people may self-manage their care without safe and federally approved options like mifepristone. The real risk to people who are self-managing abortion is legal, not medical.
“It is clear the attempted bans on abortion occurring in state legislatures and courtrooms across the country are never about making reproductive healthcare safe or accessible for anyone. Rather, this is a theo-politicized attempt to make healthcare impossible to access and is rooted in authoritarianism and the desire to control people’s reproductive autonomy and decision making. This decision will disproportionately affect Black people, Indigenous people, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people with low incomes, and other minority groups, ultimately adding to the list of barriers they already face while accessing healthcare.
“While mifepristone remains safe and legal in Michigan, no one should have their options for reproductive care limited by political or religious interference. Fear mongering imposed by anti-abortion extremists is evident and abortion providers aren’t going anywhere. The #MajorityForThePeople will continue to fight for abortion access and people’s freedom to seek the reproductive healthcare they need.”
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