ACLU Comment on Failed House Vote to Advance Medication Abortion Restrictions in Appropriations Bill

WASHINGTON — As a possible government shutdown nears, the House of Representatives last night advanced a package of appropriation bills that included several priorities from the House majority’s extreme and dangerous agenda, including a provision that would impose harmful, medically unnecessary restrictions on medication abortion pills — used in half abortion care nationwide — within the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration appropriations bill (H.R. 4368). The vote on H.R. 4368 faced strong bipartisan opposition to the anti-abortion provision and failed with a final vote of 237-191, with 27 Republicans and 210 Democrats voting against the bill.

The ACLU thanks the members who voted no on the bill, as well as the ACLU supporters who called their representatives to demand the House not attack medication abortion care. This vote ensures we will not immediately lose access to mifepristone and the important care it provides. However, the bill’s failure effectively punts the fight over access to mifepristone to later in the fall, when the House majority is expected to continue its extreme agenda against reproductive freedom and access to life-saving health care. We urge these members to continue to vote in the interest of reproductive freedom when the issue inevitably resurfaces in Congress.

Statement from Julie Sweet, director of policy & government affairs for reproductive freedom with the ACLU:

“We applaud the bipartisan group of members who voted against the bill and took a stand to ensure our reproductive rights were not sacrificed in the chaos of the appropriations showdown. These members know how deeply popular access to medication abortion care is among their constituents — they must continue to ensure Congress does not play politics with reproductive freedom.”