Former Vice President Mike Pence on Monday applauded the controversial federal court ruling on Friday invalidating the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s longstanding approval of a widely used abortion pill.
“Life won again today. When it approved chemical abortions on demand, the FDA acted carelessly and with blatant disregard for human life and the wellbeing of American women, and today’s ruling fixed a 20 year wrong,” Pence said in a statement through his PAC, Advancing American Freedom, that was referring to the day the ruling came down last week.
“Advancing American Freedom will always fight for the sanctity of life and defend the unborn and women in crisis pregnancies.”
Pence is the first among the declared or possible 2024 presidential candidates on the Republican side to weigh in on last Friday’s ruling out of Texas. Former President Donald Trump, the presumed front-runner for the GOP nomination so far, has been silent, despite having appointed the federal judge whose ruling could become the most significant abortion decision since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June.
Republicans are quiet — and for good reason. Polls generally show that a majority of Americans support some form of abortion access. Six in 10 voters back legal abortion in most cases, according to a Politico analysis of the 2022 midterms. Abortion access was seen as a powerful issue for Democrats in the last election.
Pence, whose abortion views are informed by his religious faith, doubled down in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s reversal, saying “we must not rest” until abortion is outlawed entirely across the country. The former vice president has urged other Republicans to stake out similarly extreme positions on banning abortion access.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling invalidates the FDA’s 2000 approval of abortion drug mifepristone. The ruling does not go into effect for a week, while in the meantime the Biden administration has vowed to appeal the decision.
The Justice Department is also weighing how to proceed in light of a conflicting ruling in Washington state that came down shortly after Kacsmaryk’s ruling and ordered the FDA to maintain the abortion pill status quo in response to a separate lawsuit brought by a group of Democratic attorneys general.