Strange Bedfellows: AOC, Republican Mace Agree that FDA Should Ignore Ruling
Pair agree that federal judge has no authority to rule in this case
This week brought about a highly unusual alignment in the midst of today's hyper-partisan politics: a Democrat and a Republican in Congress agree about abortion.
Specifically, both Reps Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) say that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should ignore last week's ruling by a federal judge against the abortion pill.
A federal judge in Texas halted the FDA’s approval of an abortion pill — some 23 years after the agency gave the drug the green light.
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. Northern District of Texas stayed his order for seven days to give the Biden administration a chance to appeal.
Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most progressive lawmakers in the House, immediately criticized the ruling on TV — as even suggested that the judge had no authority over the FDA.
“I think one of the things that we need to examine is the grounds of that ruling. But I do not believe that the courts have the authority to have the authority over the FDA that they just asserted. And I do believe that it creates a crisis,” she said, in an on-camera appearance on CNN. “Should the Supreme Court do that, it would essentially institute a national abortion ban, because you have an extraordinary amount of states who have implemented surgical bans or bans after very early time periods.
“And then, if you pair that with a mifepristone ban, then we will essentially have a ban on abortion with — there are certain work-arounds. I will admit there would be certain work-arounds. But we would have taken very significant step towards a national abortion ban,” she added.
Perhaps surprisingly, Republican Mace appeared even more unequivocal in saying that the judge's order should simply be ignored.
“I would. Yes, I would,” she replied when asked whether the ruling against mifepristone should be disregarded. “This is an issue that Republicans have been largely on the wrong side of. We have over the last nine months not shown compassion towards women and this is one of those issues that I've tried to lead on as someone who is pro-life and just have some common sense.
“In the state of South Carolina, just a few weeks ago, we had some folks in the state legislature that essentially wanted to execute women who had abortions. So we've got some extreme views on this issue but 90 percent of America is somewhere in the middle,” Mace added. “And I think that 90 percent would be OK with listening to the FDA rather than a judge who used an old law that was determined unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. I think the vast majority of Americans would support that decision.”
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