The American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) participated in a White House Roundtable held today with Vice President Kamala Harris and invited leaders of women’s rights groups and reproductive health organizations from across the nation to discuss efforts that may restrict access to mifepristone.
AMWA shared our work over the past eight months, including the Reproductive Health Coalition, which we co-founded with Doctors for America, and which has grown to represent more than 40 medical, healthcare, and allied organizations representing 150 million individuals. The mission of the coalition is to unite healthcare and allied organizations around protecting access to reproductive healthcare and preventing legislative and judicial interference in medical practice that impedes patient care.
The pending court case in Texas, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, was filed in an apparent attempt to overturn Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of mifepristone, which occurred in 2000. We know that the FDA based its initial approval on a rigorous review of clinical data and has made subsequent policy changes based on ongoing review and monitoring of patient data. This is a fundamental principle of how the practice of medicine evolves – so that scientific research, along with clinical experience and patient care, can continue to inform and advance medical care.
To think that the rigorous, scientific, and evidence-based guidelines for FDA approval of medications can be superseded by partisan judicial opinions sets a dangerous precedent. While the plaintiffs cite increased safety as their goal, removing the FDA’s approval of mifepristone may force patients to pursue more invasive and riskier procedures. We are steadfast in supporting the FDA as the arbiter of drug reviews and approvals to maintain patient safety above all else.
AMWA stands with the Reproductive Health Coalition in the need to prevent political interference in the practice of medicine.
