Sen. Hickenlooper Joins Push To Protect Access To Medication Abortion

By Lindsey Toomer, Colorado Newsline

February 9, 2023

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado joined a group of fellow Democratic senators to introduce a bill intended to protect access to medication abortion in states where abortion remains legal.

The Protecting Access to Medication Abortion Act would protect the current Food and Drug Administration guidelines that allow access to the medication abortion drug mifepristone through telehealth and certified pharmacies, as well as mail-order pharmacies. Repeated research has shown medication abortion is safe and effective.

“Mifepristone is safe, trusted medication that can be prescribed over a telehealth visit,” Hickenlooper said in a news release. “We need to protect this access to reproductive rights, so women get the care they need.”

Several anti-abortion groups worked to get a lawsuit challenging the FDA’s approval of mifepristone in front of a federal judge, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, in Texas. The legal fight is viewed as likely to go all the way to the Supreme Court.

The new legislation Hickenlooper helped introduce alongside U.S. Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota is supported by a variety of women’s rights organizations, including the National Women’s Health Network, the Reproductive Health Access Project and Obstetricians for Reproductive Justice.

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