Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that over 25 years of real-world evidence and hundreds of peer-reviewed studies proving that mifepristone is safe and effective should be respected, and law and policy governing access to lifesaving, time-sensitive medication abortion care in the United States should be equitable, transparent, and based on the best available peer-reviewed evidence-based science.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1285 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1285

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that over 25 years
 of real-world evidence and hundreds of peer-reviewed studies proving
 that mifepristone is safe and effective should be respected, and law
 and policy governing access to lifesaving, time-sensitive medication
 abortion care in the United States should be equitable, transparent,
 and based on the best available peer-reviewed evidence-based science.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 14, 2026

  Ms. DeGette (for herself, Ms. Pressley, Ms. McClellan, Ms. Clark of
    Massachusetts, Mr. Bell, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Ms.
Velazquez, Mr. Moulton, Ms. Pettersen, Ms. Norton, Ms. Balint, and Ms.
 Dexter) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that over 25 years
 of real-world evidence and hundreds of peer-reviewed studies proving
 that mifepristone is safe and effective should be respected, and law
 and policy governing access to lifesaving, time-sensitive medication
 abortion care in the United States should be equitable, transparent,
 and based on the best available peer-reviewed evidence-based science.

Whereas Congress, by enacting the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21
        U.S.C. 301 et seq.), authorized the Food and Drug Administration (in
        this preamble referred to as the ``FDA'') to determine, based on the
        scientific evidence, whether a drug is safe and effective for the
        intended use of the drug;
Whereas Congress authorized the FDA to impose or maintain a Risk Evaluation and
        Mitigation Strategy (in this preamble referred to as ``REMS'') for a
        drug only where ``necessary to ensure that the benefits of the drug
        outweigh the risks of the drug'' considering certain statutorily
        enumerated factors;
Whereas Congress prohibited the FDA from imposing or maintaining an Element to
        Assure Safe Use (in this preamble referred to as ``ETASU'') within a
        REMS program if, inter alia, the ETASU is ``unduly burdensome on patient
        access,'' considering in particular ``patients who have difficulty
        accessing health care'';
Whereas mifepristone is a medication recommended by leading medical authorities
        for its FDA-approved use to terminate a pregnancy and for its off-label
        use to manage miscarriage;
Whereas mifepristone received approval from the FDA more than 25 years ago, and
        according to the FDA, the ``efficacy and safety have become well-
        established by both research and experience, and serious complications
        have proven to be extremely rare'';
Whereas the FDA approved mifepristone following a rigorous 54-month review
        period that included the review of 3 complete phases of clinical trials
        that involved thousands of participants and that showed mifepristone was
        safe and effective for termination of an early pregnancy;
Whereas, despite mifepristone's exceptional safety record, the FDA still
        regulates this medication more heavily than 99 percent of prescription
        drugs;
Whereas, in December 2021, after an extensive review of high-quality research
        and years of real-world data confirming that mifepristone remains just
        as safe when patients can fill their prescription by mail or at a
        pharmacy, the FDA concluded that the mifepristone REMS should be
        modified to lessen the burdens on patient access and the health care
        system and, in January 2023, approved this modification to the REMS that
        removed the in-person dispensing ETASU and added a pharmacy
        certification ETASU, allowing Mifeprex and its approved generics to be
        dispensed by certified pharmacies, both in-person and by mail, as well
        as by or under the supervision of certified prescribers;
Whereas numerous peer-reviewed studies since January 2023 have further
        established that mifepristone remains highly safe and effective;
Whereas mifepristone is more accessible when dispensed to eligible patients by
        mail or at a pharmacy after clinical evaluation and counseling through
        telemedicine;
Whereas few drugs have been studied so extensively after their FDA approval and
        few hold such an explicit and convincing safety record as mifepristone;
Whereas leading medical and scientific organizations, including the World Health
        Organization, the American Medical Association, the American College of
        Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Family
        Physicians, the Society of Family Planning, and the Society for
        Maternal-Fetal Medicine, recognize that mifepristone is safe and
        effective, including when prescribed through telemedicine and dispensed
        to eligible patients by mail or at a pharmacy, and continue to recommend
        the use of mifepristone as part of an evidence-based regimen to safely
        end a pregnancy;
Whereas the importance of medication abortion is recognized globally, and the
        World Health Organization has included mifepristone on its list of
        essential medicines since 2005;
Whereas the safety record of mifepristone is demonstrated by its availability in
        more than 90 countries, including countries without restrictions like
        the mifepristone REMS;
Whereas medication abortion accounted for 63 percent of all abortions in the
        United States in 2023;
Whereas, following the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in
        Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022), to
        overturn decades of precedent in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), and
        Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), as of May 2026, bans
        have eliminated all or some abortions in 20 States, compounding an
        already complex landscape and exacerbating the existing abortion-access
        crisis;
Whereas, in the years since the decision of the Supreme Court of the United
        States to overturn Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), and Planned
        Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's
        Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022), anti-abortion politicians and
        groups have filed multiple baseless lawsuits against the FDA over its
        approval and regulation of mifepristone, attempting to use
        misinformation about mifepristone to justify restricting access to this
        essential medication nationwide, despite its longstanding safety record;
Whereas the impact to the health and well-being of patients across the country
        would be devastating if any action reduced patient access to medication
        abortion or increased barriers to prescribing and dispensing medication
        abortion;
Whereas abortion bans and restrictions force patients to travel greater
        distances for care and face longer wait times, and force some patients
        who are unable to access care to remain pregnant against their will;
Whereas scientific research has demonstrated that restricting access to abortion
        increases the risk of domestic violence for pregnant people and data
        suggests that the privacy of a telehealth consultation may increase a
        patient's willingness to disclose abuse or coercion; and
Whereas, due to discrimination, unnecessary restrictions on abortion, including
        medication abortion, disproportionately push care out of reach for--

    (1) Black and Indigenous people;

    (2) people of color;

    (3) immigrants;

    (4) people with lower incomes;

    (5) people in rural communities;

    (6) LGBTQ+ people;

    (7) people living with disabilities;

    (8) people experiencing intimate partner violence; and

    (9) other pregnant people who have been disproportionately harmed by
systemic inequities in health care: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives
that--
            (1) Food and Drug Administration policies affecting access
        to medication abortion care in the United States must be based
        on transparent scientific review of the full body of gold-
        standard medical evidence, as well as considerations of
        potential burdens on patient access and the health care
        delivery system, as required by the Federal Food, Drug, and
        Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.);
            (2) Congress has granted the Food and Drug Administration
        the authority to regulate prescription drug medications and
        medical devices based on scientific determinations of their
        safety and efficacy grounded in the best available peer-
        reviewed evidence-based science, and without political
        interference;
            (3) the Food and Drug Administration has performed multiple
        scientific reviews of mifepristone over 25 years, each time
        finding mifepristone to be safe and effective for pregnancy
        termination, including when mifepristone is prescribed through
        telemedicine and dispensed to eligible patients by mail or at a
        pharmacy, based on high-quality clinical research and real-
        world-safety data; and
            (4) preserving and expanding access to medication abortion
        care, including preserving the ability to prescribe
        mifepristone through telemedicine and dispense to eligible
        patients by mail or at a pharmacy, is important to ensure
        equitable access to abortion for patients harmed by statutory,
        regulatory, financial, and circumstantial restrictions that
        worsen reproductive health disparities for--
                    (A) Black and Indigenous people;
                    (B) people of color;
                    (C) immigrants;
                    (D) people with lower incomes;
                    (E) people in rural communities;
                    (F) LGBTQ+ people;
                    (G) people living with disabilities;
                    (H) people experiencing intimate partner violence;
                and
                    (I) people in other marginalized communities.
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