Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday slammed a federal appeals court decision that will allow restrictions to be placed on the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone.
Harris said that the ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals "second-guesses" the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) medical experts who approved the drug 23 years ago.
"If this decision stands, no medication — from chemotherapy drugs, to asthma medicine, to blood pressure pills, to insulin — would be safe from attacks," the vice president said in a statement.
"This decision threatens the rights of Americans across the country, who can look in their medicine cabinets and find medication prescribed by a doctor because the FDA engaged in a process to determine the efficacy and safety of that medication.
"This lawsuit is the next step to a nationwide abortion ban," she continued. "The decision severely limits access to mifepristone, standing between doctors and their patients. President Biden and our administration remain firmly committed to protecting access to medication abortion, as the president and I have made clear since the day of the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs."
On Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department will ask the Supreme Court to protect the availability of the medication.
"The Justice Department strongly disagrees with the Fifth Circuit's decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA to deny in part our request for a stay pending appeal," Garland said in a statement. "We will be seeking emergency relief from the Supreme Court to defend the FDA's scientific judgment and protect Americans' access to safe and effective reproductive care."
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled in favor of anti-abortion groups last week, putting on hold the FDA's approval of the drug while a legal challenge proceeds.
The 5th Circuit ruled late Wednesday night that mifepristone may remain on the market as the federal government's appeal plays out, while upholding parts of Kacsmaryk's ruling that would reverse actions taken by the FDA in 2016 to ease access to the pill.
Those actions include allowing mifepristone to be sent through the mail, ending a requirement for three in-person appointments, approving a generic version and approving the drug's use for up to 10 weeks instead of seven.
Barring intervention from the Supreme Court, those actions will be reversed on Saturday.
Harris has been the Biden administration's foremost champion of abortion rights in the year since the Supreme Court reversed the 50-year precedent of Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs decision. She has met with hundreds of abortion rights advocates as the White House has grappled with next steps in the face of GOP-led states restricting or banning the controversial procedure.