South Carolina Republican says to ignore FDA abortion pill ruling

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) suggested that the Biden administration should ignore a federal judge’s decision last week to block the sale of an abortion pill.

“It's not up to us to decide as legislators or even, you know, as the court system whether this is the right drug to use or not,” Mace told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Monday. “I agree with ignoring it at this point… this thing should just be thrown out quite frankly.”

On Friday evening, Texas federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled to suspend the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, a drug that can be used in tandem with another to induce an abortion. Though it won’t take effect for a week, the decision virtually bans the sale of the pills across the country.

The ruling was appealed by the Biden administration as lawmakers, including Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), called on President Joe Biden to use his executive powers to protect the drugs’ availability even sooner. Hundreds of thousands of patients in the United States use the medication both for abortions and treating miscarriages.

Mace sided with the outspoken Democrats, the first Republican to publicly do so.

“This is an issue that Republicans have been largely on the wrong side of,” she said. “We have, over the last nine months, not shown compassion toward women, and this is one of those issues that I've tried to lead on as someone who's pro-life and just have some common sense.”

Mace said there’s “no basis” for the ruling, explaining that the Texas judge cited a Supreme Court decision, which was later overturned, for his decision.

Over the weekend, Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas) floated the idea of defunding FDA programs if the ruling is ignored. When asked about those comments, Mace emphasized that most Americans aren’t radically opposed to abortion access and would likely agree with the FDA’s authority to allow the drug’s sale.

“We are getting it wrong on this issue,” she said. “We've got to show some compassion to women, especially women who've been raped. We've got to show compassion on the abortion issue because by and large most Americans aren't with us on this issue.”