GOP lawmaker Nancy Mace opposes Texas decision to block FDA approval of abortion pills

Speaking with CNN on  Monday morning, Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace said that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should ignore a Texas federal judge’s ruling blocking the agency’s approval of mifepristone, an abortion-inducing drug used early in pregnancy.

"Do you think that a judge in Texas should be able to say that an FDA’s determination about a drug is invalid?" asked CNN This Morning host Kaitlan Collins.

"I don’t, and, in fact, when you look at the core case and the ruling here, the judge used an act or a law from the 1800s that was overturned by the Supreme Court, or at least the Supreme Court decided in 1983, over 100 years later roughly, that that law was unconstitutional," replied Mace. "And that was the basis for his argument last week."

"And look, this is an FDA-approved drug whether you agree with its usage or not, that’s not your decision. That is the FDA’s decision on the efficacy, safety, and usage of that particular drug," she added.

When asked by Collins on whether she agrees with Democrat colleagues like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that the Biden administration and FDA should ignore the judge’s ruling, Mace said she agreed with this.

"This is the judicial branch, we have a court system, I do think that this is going to be relegated to the courts. There are other lawsuits that are going on right now," said Mace.

"This is an FDA-approved drug. I support the usage of FDA-approved drugs, even if we might disagree, it’s not up to us to decide as legislators, or even, you know, as the court system that whether or not this is the right drugs use or not, number one," she said.

"So I agree with ignoring it at this point, but there are other lawsuits that are happening right now in other states as well over this issue, but to look at the case itself, when you look at the law that the judge used, an old law that the Supreme Court said was unconstitutional, the sanction should just be thrown out, quite frankly," she said.

According to The Hill, US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a stay on Friday that said the FDA had improperly rushed the approval of the abortion-inducing drug 23 years ago. The judge’s ruling would halt the prescribing and distribution of the drug as soon as seven days after his decision.

Mace continued on to say that "the vast majority, 60, 70 percent of Americans are not going to agree with this decision."

"There are many pro-life people that also while they’re pro-life, they don’t want the government to intervene in this radical of a manner and the FDA has a rigorous process that they go through on drug approvals. Most of the time they get it right, when they don’t, there are lawsuits regarding the efficacy of those drugs."

Mace continued on to once again state that the law the judge used was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, adding that, "We are getting it wrong on this issue. We’ve got to show some compassion to women, especially women who’ve been raped. We’ve got to show some compassion on the abortion issue, because by and large, most Americans aren’t with us on this issue."