Today, Representative Sharice Davids (D-KS-03) released the following statement after a Republican-appointed federal appeals court blocked access to mifepristone — a safe, widely used medication that accounts for over half of all abortions in the United States and has been approved for decades. The decision overrides science-based regulations set by the Food and Drug Administration.
“I’m furious. Mifepristone is safe, backed by decades of evidence — and extremists are once again ignoring doctors to play politics with people’s health. This will make it harder — especially in rural communities already losing hospitals to Medicaid cuts — to get the care people need.
“I’ll keep fighting to protect Kansans’ access to care and keep these decisions between patients and their doctors — not politicians or courts. We’re not going backward. Call your legislators and tell them to leave your freedoms alone.”
Background:
In Kansas, voters overwhelmingly voted to protect the right to access abortion in the state by defeating an anti-choice constitutional amendment in August 2022. Additionally, a Kansas judge ruled that year that healthcare providers are allowed to prescribe medication abortion, such as mifepristone, through telemedicine. Despite that ruling and the landslide pro-choice results, Kansas state lawmakers continue to introduce legislation to restrict access to reproductive healthcare.
Davids has taken multiple actions to protect access to mifepristone and defend reproductive healthcare. In 2023, she joined more than 200 members of Congress in filing an amicus brief supporting the appeal of a Texas court decision that threatened nationwide access to the medication.
In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously preserved access to mifepristone, ruling that abortion opponents lacked the legal right to sue over the FDA’s actions to ease access to the medication. Immediately following this decision, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and attorneys general of two other Midwestern states vowed to push forward their legal challenge to mifepristone.