For Immediate Release
Contact: David Reinbold, dreinbold@americanhumanist.org
(Washington, DC, March 26, 2024) — The American Humanist Association proudly joined an amicus brief in support of the Federal Drug Administration and abortion access in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a case in which oral arguments were heard today at the Supreme Court. Over 100 organizations joined together in the brief to champion reproductive health, rights, and justice in a case that threatens the legality and availability of mifepristone: a drug that, when administered with misoprostol, is the most common method of medication abortion in the United States.
Mifepristone is safe, effective, and supported by more than two decades of scientific and medical evidence. This medication can be self-administered, allowing people to end early pregnancies in a comfortable setting of their choice. According to a study released by the Guttmacher Institute last week, “there were approximately 642,700 medication abortions in the United States in 2023, accounting for 63% of all abortions in the formal health care system. This is an increase from 2020, when medication abortions accounted for 53% of all abortions.” At a time when people are increasingly relying on the use of medication abortions to terminate their pregnancies, the need to protect access to mifepristone could not be more vital.
In today’s oral arguments, the Alliance argued that no one in the country should have access to mifepristone because seven of its members–who are doctors–face the remote possibility that one day they might have to provide emergency care to a person who has used mifepristone to end a pregnancy.
The government defended the FDA’s actions to keep mifepristone safe and available for women across the country. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar challenged the Alliance’s ability to bring this suit in the first place, as mere disagreement with the right to abortion does not grant the Alliance the right to challenge the well-founded decisions of a government agency.
General Prelogar further argued that to allow such sweeping relief based on the “conscience objections” of a few religiously motivated individuals would lead to profound harm: harm to the FDA, harm to the pharmaceutical industry, harm to the entire healthcare system, and harm to countless women who rely on mifepristone for safe and accessible reproductive care.”
Anti-abortion zealots across government have made it clear since the landmark decision was handed down in Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion on the federal level in 1973, that they will not stop their crusade until all reproductive and pregnancy outcomes that do not result in live birth are banned, investigated, and criminalized across the United States. The extremist justices’ abhorrent ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization successfully ripped away the bodily autonomy of people and their right to make their own private healthcare decisions. Ending the use of mifepristone is the next step in their plan to end all access to abortion.
“Access to abortion is a fundamental human right and an issue of chief concern for humanists. We have seen how attacks on abortion access are strongly rooted in the dangerous ideologies of Christian nationalism, and the AHA will continue to wholeheartedly defend abortion and reproductive freedom,” said Nicole Carr, Interim Executive Director for the AHA. “Blocking access to abortion is not only immoral and a public health crisis, it is also an infringement on religious freedom, a right that applies to humanists and nonbelievers as equally as to religious individuals.”
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The American Humanist Association (AHA) works to protect the rights of humanists, atheists, and other nontheistic Americans. The AHA advances the ethical and life-affirming worldview of humanism, which—without beliefs in gods or other supernatural forces—encourages individuals to live informed and meaningful lives that aspire to the greater good of humanity.