[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 128 (Tuesday, July 25, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H3901-H3902]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     MIFEPRISTONE IS A DEADLY DRUG

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Rose) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, as a Christian, a father, and conservative 
Member of Congress, I make no secret about it. I am absolutely 100 
percent, unapologetically pro-life. I believe life begins at 
conception, and I believe that we must do everything we can to protect 
the innocent children living in their mother's wombs who are unable to 
protect themselves.
  This week, House Republicans and the House will be considering H.R. 
4368, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, 
and Related Agencies appropriations bill for fiscal year 2024. This 
bill not only funds many valuable programs on which our farmers and 
families rely to get food and fiber to our tables, but it also funds 
the Food and Drug Administration which plays a vital role in the food 
and drug safety of our country.
  Recently, under President Joe Biden, the Food and Drug 
Administration, or FDA, has done the unthinkable: It has approved and 
expanded the use of mifepristone--a drug that induces a chemical 
abortion--for delivery by mail.
  This is wrong on so many levels. For starters, let me be clear: this 
is a deadly drug not only for the baby in the womb, but it can also be 
deadly for the expectant mother taking it.
  According to a scholarly article in ``Issues in Law and Medicine'' 
titled: ``Deaths and Severe Adverse Events after the use of 
Mifepristone as an Abortifacient from September 2000 to February 
2019,'' out of 2,660 codable adverse reactions, 20 resulted in deaths, 
529 were life-threatening to the mother, and 1,957 were severe adverse 
reactions.
  Given the potentially deadly side effects, what possible 
justification does the FDA have to approve such a dangerous drug for 
distribution through the mail, allowing patients to self-administer it 
without close medical supervision given the potentially dangerous side 
effects?
  Giving a political payback to the abortion industrial complex is not 
a justification. In fact, there is no justification whatsoever, in my 
view. Regardless of where you stand on the debate about abortion, this 
is truly abhorrent.
  I don't believe anyone in their right mind would say that this drug 
is safe

[[Page H3902]]

for human consumption. We already know for sure that consuming this 
drug ends one human life and it has the potential to actually end two 
lives every time a pregnant woman takes it.
  That is why Republicans have included language in the appropriations 
bill that funds the FDA that prohibits the use of this dangerous and 
deadly mail-order chemical abortion drug. I hope my colleagues on the 
other side of the aisle can recognize the clear and present danger this 
FDA policy represents and make the commonsense decision to support this 
provision rather than trying to strip it out in the amendment process.
  We can only hope for a future where these practices finally come to 
an end. Until then, conservatives like me will continue fighting to 
rein in the FDA's reckless approval of dangerous drugs that put women's 
health in danger and to keep all innocent and voiceless children safe 
from this abhorrent practice.

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