Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who won her re-election last November partly on an abortion-rights platform, addressed the controversial federal rulings regarding mifepristone. She recently repealed the 1931 abortion ban, which prohibited abortions without exceptions. The voters also voted in November to enshrine the rights and access to abortion into the state constitution.
Whitmer appeared on “All In With Chris Hayes” yesterday.
“It’s stunning that we have one right-wing group cherry-picked an extreme judge, and now he has substituted this wild-eyed opinion for what has been effective, safe medical care for women for decades,” Whitmer stated in the interview. “The people of this country are telling us over and over again that they expect these fundamental rights to continue, to be there for future generations.”
Whitmer stated that, in foreseeing the ruling about medical abortions, she worked with insurers “to make sure they would not withdraw coverage for mifepristone.”
The pill is one-half of the medication needed for medical abortions. A federal judge in Texas ruled on Friday to stop the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the pill. Another federal judge in Washington contradicted the Texas ruling that same day. The Washington judge stated that the FDA couldn’t stop its own approval of or access to mifepristone.
The FDA’s approval has stood for 20 years. Experts predict that the dueling rulings will mean the U.S. Supreme will make the final decision regarding the pill and, ultimately, medical abortion.
Medical abortion is the most used method to terminate a pregnancy, especially after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
