Jasmine Crockett Shuts Down Mifepristone Opponents Using 1 Unlikely Drug

Ben Blanchet
Updated ·2 min read
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Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) mocked anti-abortion advocates’ argument to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone by making an example out of Viagra at a House Oversight Committee meeting on Thursday.

Mifepristone, which is one of two drugs used in medication abortion, is the center of a high court case that could limit access to a pill.

The case focuses on whether the Food and Drug Administration overlooked safety concerns with the drug, which the FDA approved in 2000 and expanded access to years later.

Crockett asked FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert M. Califf, who has stated that mifepristone is a safe and effective form of medication abortion, whether the “medical management of a miscarriage” could potentially be a “life-saving usage” before asking him about Viagra.

“Would you consider erectile dysfunction as a life-saving usage for Viagra?” Crockett asked.

“Not life-saving,” Dr. Califf answered.

“Not life-saving? OK. Well, I’m going to tell you that based on my research, that mifepristone actually has life-saving characteristics,” Crockett said.

She continued, “Yet Viagra doesn’t, and for those that don’t know, Viagra, from my understanding, is actually nearly 10 times greater than as it relates to the risk of death. Yet, for some reason, it’s not sitting in the court right now.”

The doctors tied to the case have a history of anti-abortion advocacy while none of them who submitted declarations have prescribed the pill, CNN noted, adding that one doctor is a GOP state senator and another isn’t licensed to practice medicine.

Crockett went on to commend Califf for noting that drugs go through trials prior to approval.

“After putting it through the wringer for decades, women’s lives have been saved, and as a representative from the area that Roe v. Wade actually initiated, I am appalled because, for whatever reason, some people want us to go back to horse and buggy in this country,” said Crockett, who went on to thank the FDA for “lives that are being saved” as a result of its work.

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