Kelly Joins 40 Senators Introducing Resolution Affirming Support for FDA’s Scientific Judgment That Medication Abortion Is Safe and Effective

Arizona Senator Mark Kelly joined 40 other lawmakers in introducing a resolution in support of equitable, science-based policies governing access to medication abortion. 

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, reproductive rights have been increasingly under attack, with more than a dozen states banning or restricting access to abortion care, and anti-abortion extremists attempting to ban medication abortion nationwide. Medication abortion is currently used for over half of all abortions. 

This resolution expresses the sense of Congress that the scientific judgment of the FDA that mifepristone is safe and effective should be respected, and that law and policy governing access to lifesaving, time-sensitive medication abortion care in the United States should be equitable and based on science. The resolution affirms that mifepristone is safe and effective, while acknowledging the significant harm that would be posed to both health care providers and patients across the nation if mifepristone were sharply curtailed. 

This action comes as Americans continue to grapple with the reversal of Roe v. Wade and follows this week’s announcement that the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to medication abortion access.  

“A woman’s right to make decisions about abortion must include access to medication proven to be effective and safe,” said Sen. Kelly. “Limiting access to mifepristone is not based in science and would take our country further backwards. We must protect the right to reproductive health care in Arizona and across the country.”   

The resolution was co-sponsored by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Angus King (I-ME), Ron Wyden (D-OR), John Fetterman (D-PA), Laphonza Butler (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Tom Carper (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Peter Welch (D-VT), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tina Smith (D-MN), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), and Cory Booker (D-NJ). 

The resolution has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Power to Decide, National Council of Jewish Women, The Century Foundation’s Health Equity and Reform Team, National Partnership for Women and Families, Guttmacher Institute, Center for Reproductive Rights, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America), In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, and the EMAA Project. 

In April, Kelly joined 252 lawmakers in signing a brief in support of upholding the FDA’s longstanding authority to approve and regulate mifepristone. Kelly is also a co-sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would write almost 50 years of precedent for abortion protections under Roe v. Wade into law.   

Click here for the full resolution text.