Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris mistakenly referred to the "Federal Drug Administration" as the agency responsible for approving the abortion pill mifepristone two decades ago.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the appropriate agency.
During a televised interview with Noticias Telemundo's Vanessa Hauc, Harris discussed abortion and the ongoing changes in the United States. The Vice President emphasized the importance of women's right to make decisions about their bodies and reproductive health, a request she believes the government should not interfere with.
Harris then shifted her focus to mifepristone, an abortion pill approved by the FDA in 2000. A case brought forth by pro-life doctors and medical organizations challenges not the tablet itself but whether the FDA acted correctly in approving the drug over 20 years ago.
In the interview, Harris mistakenly said, "On the mifepristone issue, it's politicians finding a court, targeting a specific court that they thought would be helpful to them, to take a medication off the market, which was approved 20 years ago by the Federal Drug Administration."
She encouraged viewers to examine their medicine cabinets and consider the FDA-approved medications they might find, suggesting that what is happening with mifepristone could potentially occur with any of those drugs.
The Supreme Court ruled on the same day the interview aired, deciding that full access to the abortion pill could continue while the lawsuit proceeds through lower federal courts.
This case reached the Supreme Court after Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk issued a ruling that sided with pro-life groups by halting the FDA's approval of mifepristone.
Kacsmaryk's order was partially overturned by the 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals, which preserved restrictions limiting the drug's availability to seven weeks instead of 10 and disallowing mail delivery.
The Justice Department contended that maintaining restrictions on the drug would create chaos. Meanwhile, a separate lawsuit filed by 17 Democrat-led states and the District of Columbia resulted in a federal judge in Washington ordering the FDA to preserve access to mifepristone under the current rules.
When taken with misoprostol, Mifepristone is part of a two-drug regimen that first blocks hormones necessary for sustaining fetal life and then induces cramps and contractions to expel the deceased fetus from the mother's womb.
According to the manufacturer, the drug is 97% effective in ending early pregnancy; however, approximately 3% of women who take it may need surgical intervention for ongoing pregnancy, heavy bleeding, incomplete expulsion, or other reasons.
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