H.Res. 1285

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1285 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1285

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that over 25 years 
of real-world evidence and hundreds of peer-reviewed studies proving 
that mifepristone is safe and effective should be respected, and law 
and policy governing access to lifesaving, time-sensitive medication 
abortion care in the United States should be equitable, transparent, 
and based on the best available peer-reviewed evidence-based science.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

May 14, 2026

Ms. DeGette (for herself, Ms. Pressley, Ms. McClellan, Ms. Clark of 
Massachusetts, Mr. Bell, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Ms. 
Velazquez, Mr. Moulton, Ms. Pettersen, Ms. Norton, Ms. Balint, and Ms. 
Dexter) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that over 25 years 
of real-world evidence and hundreds of peer-reviewed studies proving 
that mifepristone is safe and effective should be respected, and law 
and policy governing access to lifesaving, time-sensitive medication 
abortion care in the United States should be equitable, transparent, 
and based on the best available peer-reviewed evidence-based science.

Whereas Congress, by enacting the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 
U.S.C. 301 et seq.), authorized the Food and Drug Administration (in 
this preamble referred to as the ``FDA'') to determine, based on the 
scientific evidence, whether a drug is safe and effective for the 
intended use of the drug;
Whereas Congress authorized the FDA to impose or maintain a Risk Evaluation and 
Mitigation Strategy (in this preamble referred to as ``REMS'') for a 
drug only where ``necessary to ensure that the benefits of the drug 
outweigh the risks of the drug'' considering certain statutorily 
enumerated factors;
Whereas Congress prohibited the FDA from imposing or maintaining an Element to 
Assure Safe Use (in this preamble referred to as ``ETASU'') within a 
REMS program if, inter alia, the ETASU is ``unduly burdensome on patient 
access,'' considering in particular ``patients who have difficulty 
accessing health care'';
Whereas mifepristone is a medication recommended by leading medical authorities 
for its FDA-approved use to terminate a pregnancy and for its off-label 
use to manage miscarriage;
Whereas mifepristone received approval from the FDA more than 25 years ago, and 
according to the FDA, the ``efficacy and safety have become well-
established by both research and experience, and serious complications 
have proven to be extremely rare'';
Whereas the FDA approved mifepristone following a rigorous 54-month review 
period that included the review of 3 complete phases of clinical trials 
that involved thousands of participants and that showed mifepristone was 
safe and effective for termination of an early pregnancy;
Whereas, despite mifepristone's exceptional safety record, the FDA still 
regulates this medication more heavily than 99 percent of prescription 
drugs;
Whereas, in December 2021, after an extensive review of high-quality research 
and years of real-world data confirming that mifepristone remains just 
as safe when patients can fill their prescription by mail or at a 
pharmacy, the FDA concluded that the mifepristone REMS should be 
modified to lessen the burdens on patient access and the health care 
system and, in January 2023, approved this modification to the REMS that 
removed the in-person dispensing ETASU and added a pharmacy 
certification ETASU, allowing Mifeprex and its approved generics to be 
dispensed by certified pharmacies, both in-person and by mail, as well 
as by or under the supervision of certified prescribers;
Whereas numerous peer-reviewed studies since January 2023 have further 
established that mifepristone remains highly safe and effective;
Whereas mifepristone is more accessible when dispensed to eligible patients by 
mail or at a pharmacy after clinical evaluation and counseling through 
telemedicine;
Whereas few drugs have been studied so extensively after their FDA approval and 
few hold such an explicit and convincing safety record as mifepristone;
Whereas leading medical and scientific organizations, including the World Health 
Organization, the American Medical Association, the American College of 
Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Family 
Physicians, the Society of Family Planning, and the Society for 
Maternal-Fetal Medicine, recognize that mifepristone is safe and 
effective, including when prescribed through telemedicine and dispensed 
to eligible patients by mail or at a pharmacy, and continue to recommend 
the use of mifepristone as part of an evidence-based regimen to safely 
end a pregnancy;
Whereas the importance of medication abortion is recognized globally, and the 
World Health Organization has included mifepristone on its list of 
essential medicines since 2005;
Whereas the safety record of mifepristone is demonstrated by its availability in 
more than 90 countries, including countries without restrictions like 
the mifepristone REMS;
Whereas medication abortion accounted for 63 percent of all abortions in the 
United States in 2023;
Whereas, following the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in 
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022), to 
overturn decades of precedent in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), and 
Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), as of May 2026, bans 
have eliminated all or some abortions in 20 States, compounding an 
already complex landscape and exacerbating the existing abortion-access 
crisis;
Whereas, in the years since the decision of the Supreme Court of the United 
States to overturn Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), and Planned 
Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's 
Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022), anti-abortion politicians and 
groups have filed multiple baseless lawsuits against the FDA over its 
approval and regulation of mifepristone, attempting to use 
misinformation about mifepristone to justify restricting access to this 
essential medication nationwide, despite its longstanding safety record;
Whereas the impact to the health and well-being of patients across the country 
would be devastating if any action reduced patient access to medication 
abortion or increased barriers to prescribing and dispensing medication 
abortion;
Whereas abortion bans and restrictions force patients to travel greater 
distances for care and face longer wait times, and force some patients 
who are unable to access care to remain pregnant against their will;
Whereas scientific research has demonstrated that restricting access to abortion 
increases the risk of domestic violence for pregnant people and data 
suggests that the privacy of a telehealth consultation may increase a 
patient's willingness to disclose abuse or coercion; and
Whereas, due to discrimination, unnecessary restrictions on abortion, including 
medication abortion, disproportionately push care out of reach for--

(1) Black and Indigenous people;

(2) people of color;

(3) immigrants;

(4) people with lower incomes;

(5) people in rural communities;

(6) LGBTQ+ people;

(7) people living with disabilities;

(8) people experiencing intimate partner violence; and

(9) other pregnant people who have been disproportionately harmed by 
systemic inequities in health care: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
(1) Food and Drug Administration policies affecting access 
to medication abortion care in the United States must be based 
on transparent scientific review of the full body of gold-
standard medical evidence, as well as considerations of 
potential burdens on patient access and the health care 
delivery system, as required by the Federal Food, Drug, and 
Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.);
(2) Congress has granted the Food and Drug Administration 
the authority to regulate prescription drug medications and 
medical devices based on scientific determinations of their 
safety and efficacy grounded in the best available peer-
reviewed evidence-based science, and without political 
interference;
(3) the Food and Drug Administration has performed multiple 
scientific reviews of mifepristone over 25 years, each time 
finding mifepristone to be safe and effective for pregnancy 
termination, including when mifepristone is prescribed through 
telemedicine and dispensed to eligible patients by mail or at a 
pharmacy, based on high-quality clinical research and real-
world-safety data; and
(4) preserving and expanding access to medication abortion 
care, including preserving the ability to prescribe 
mifepristone through telemedicine and dispense to eligible 
patients by mail or at a pharmacy, is important to ensure 
equitable access to abortion for patients harmed by statutory, 
regulatory, financial, and circumstantial restrictions that 
worsen reproductive health disparities for--
(A) Black and Indigenous people;
(B) people of color;
(C) immigrants;
(D) people with lower incomes;
(E) people in rural communities;
(F) LGBTQ+ people;
(G) people living with disabilities;
(H) people experiencing intimate partner violence; 
and
(I) people in other marginalized communities.
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