Republican lawmakers want to ban Mifepristone. Most people hate this idea

On Tuesday, the The Supreme Court has heard arguments in a case that threatens to limit access to mifepristone – a critical component of the abortion pill protocol – nationwide. The decision on the case is not expected until June, but close observers of the Supreme Court seem to they believe the case will be dismissed due to lack of standing.

The fact that this case made it all the way to the supreme court, however, is a testament to the reality that ending access to the abortion pill — the most common method of abortion, which was 63 percent of terminations last year — is no longer an idea that exists only in the fever dreams of the far-right fringe. It is a goal of the ruling Republican Party.

Last week, the Republican Study Committee — a caucus that includes 80 percent of the House Republican conference — embraced budget proposal which advocates banning all medical abortions throughout the territory. That idea is included in what's supposed to be a budget proposal, one that congress is presenting as “a sober path to balance the budget, lower prices, preserve the programs Americans have paid for, and create economic growth and opportunities”.

Ending access to the abortion pill is an idea that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has long championed. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Johnson warned that the shift to telemedicine threatened to make the drug easier to obtain.

“One of the things we're looking at is the use of chemical abortions because there's this movement toward telemedicine and out-of-home care and things like that. 'We need to be able to cure people remotely, so we'll just mail them a chemical that will induce abortion.' You know: a pill or a syringe or whatever it is,” Johnson said an interview with the anti-abortion organization Students for Life in May 2020. “We have to be very careful about this.”

Americans overwhelmingly support maintaining access to the abortion pill — even Republicans. According to a Fox News poll released Wednesday, more than two-thirds of all voters support keeping mifepristone legal, including nearly 9 in 10 Democrats, 7 in 10 independents and 48 percent of Republicans. Overall, just 28 percent of all voters think the pill should be outlawed. These numbers reflect the results of a new Worthy poll, which found 72 percent of Americans support allowing women to get abortion pills from a doctor or clinic.

Despite voters' views, Republicans have recently made a habit of trying to incorporate radical abortion restrictions into government funding bills. Nearly a dozen riders were added to the budget bills last year Associated Press reported, including a provision included in a House appropriations bill that would have overturned a Food and Drug Administration decision clearing the way for distribution of mifepristone in certified pharmacies.

A number of vulnerable House Republicans voted for the restriction, including Reps. Ken Calvert, Mike Garcia and David Valadao of California, as well as Reps. Juan Ciscomani (Ariz.) and Ryan Zinke (Md.).

Some, like Ciscomani, who represents a swing district in Arizona, are already being forced to defend their votes. Ciscomani stuttered when asked about his support for the provision in an interview with a local television station for his vote. “This was a committee vote on a larger bill,” he said. “I ended up voting against the bill on the floor.”

Ciscomani did not vote for the bill on the floor, but several of his Republican colleagues, also from swing districts, did support including Reps. John Duarte, Kevin Kiley and Michelle Steel of California; David Schweikert of (Ariz.); Maria Salazar (Florida); John James (Mich.); Scott Perry (Penn.); Roger Williams (Texas); Bryan Steil (R-Wis.).

Including the rider on the mifepristone ban ultimately doomed the farm bill to the floor — a possibility GOP leadership was aware of, according to Rep. Nancy Mace (RS.C.), who voted against it. “Leadership knew this would be a problem, and yet here we are,” Mays said Worthy then, adding the measure “will be the reason the bill will not pass.”