More than 100 abortion rights advocacy groups are calling on the House to strip a controversial rider related to the abortion pill mifepristone from the GOP bill to fund the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The spending bill, which would fund the FDA and the Department of Agriculture, includes a provision to tighten restrictions around access to mifepristone. The provision would reverse the agency’s decision to allow the drug to be dispensed through the mail and sold in retail pharmacies.
“This harmful new rider is another attack on our fundamental freedom to make decisions about our own bodies. It is imperiling critical legislation by attaching ideological policy provisions that have no place in annual appropriations bills,” wrote the groups, led by Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Physicians for Reproductive Health.
House GOP leaders were hoping to put the bill on the floor Thursday, but backlash from moderates over the abortion language and opposition to steep spending cuts demanded by hard-line conservatives means it likely won’t get a vote until September.
The groups expressed support for an amendment sponsored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) to strip the provision from the bill, but it’s not clear if that will get a vote.
The FDA funding bill is just one example of House Republicans’ attempts to use must-pass spending bills as a way to advance anti-abortion measures and other conservative health priorities.
Republicans have included anti-abortion measures in almost every appropriation bill, complicating negotiations with the Senate and risking a government shutdown.
