Florida’s Anti-Abortion AG Pushes Lie About Abortion Pill

AG James Uthmeier has entered the chat.

AbortionPolitics
Florida’s Anti-Abortion AG Pushes Lie About Abortion Pill

Take a look through the internet, and you’ll quickly discover Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is a freak. He’s the proud villain behind Alligator Alcatraz, he brags about being married to his babies in his Twitter bio, and last year, as Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff, he launched Florida’s “Freedom Fund,” an anti-marijuana, anti-abortion initiative. (Recently, the fund’s been embroiled in an ongoing probe into Hope Florida, run by Casey DeSantis, which quietly funneled $10 million to nonprofit organizations. Uthmeier has denied any role in the investigation.) Given the nefarious behavior, it’s no surprise that this week, he also continued MAGA’s ridiculous charade of railing against and calling the abortion pill unsafe.

At a news conference in Tampa on Wednesday, one reporter asked Uthmeier about Florida’s involvement (more on this below) in an ongoing lawsuit involving mifepristone, the first pill in a two-course medication used to terminate a pregnancy. 

“Well, you can certainly read the complaint to see we’re aware of a lot of harms that women and oftentimes young girls are experiencing when they subject themselves to these medications,” Uthmeier said. “Oftentimes these medications are sent into the state from out-of-state, and can get into the hands of minors.” Conveniently, he left out the fact that minors face some of the worst impacts under abortion bans.

He concludes the stupid obloquy by saying, “At the end of the day, we believe this is dangerous.” His language parrots that of other anti-abortion AGs like Ken Paxton from Texas and Andrew Bailey from Missouri (the latter recently stepped down from his position to join the FBI). In August, Uthmeier, Paxton, Bailey, and 19 other AG clowns quietly submitted a letter to the FDA asking them to re-review the safety of the abortion pill.

Mifepristone is safe. Safer than Tylenol, safer than Viagra, and safer than the GOP. In fact, it might even have the potential to reduce the risk of breast cancer—but the right’s assault on the medication has halted and defunded crucial research. Mifepristone is the most common form of medication abortion, which accounted for two-thirds of abortions in the U.S. in 2023, and was approved by the FDA over two decades ago. But this hasn’t stopped Missouri, Kansas, and Idaho from waging a legal war against the medication, nor has it stopped Florida, and also Texas, from recently getting involved.

Uthmeier’s “complaint” refers to a case that was initially filed in November 2022 by a group of anti-abortion doctors, who claimed it was an offense that they had to treat patients who experience complications brought on by mifepristone, and they asserted it prevented them from bringing “new life” into the world. The Supreme Court ruled the doctors had no standing and killed the case in June 2024. But, before that, anti-abortion AGs from Missouri, Kansas, and Idaho intervened so that if SCOTUS ruled against the doctors, they could keep it going. And in January, Matthew Kacsmaryk, an anti-abortion judge from Texas, ruled that the AGs could continue the lawsuit in his courtroom. As none of the AGs were from Texas, however, in May, DOJ attorneys asked Kacsmaryk to toss the case, saying “the states’ claims before this court must be dismissed or transferred pursuant to the venue statute’s mandatory command.”

But in August, Texas (and Florida) asked to join, citing in part the need to “protect” their states from shield laws, which safeguard providers who mail abortion pills into states where the procedure is restricted or banned. They also referenced the bogus “study” by far-right think tank EPPC—amplified by Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley—which wasn’t peer reviewed, and that used misleading metrics to claim mifepristone is unsafe.

“The AG is lying and constantly spreads misinformation and junk science for his political agenda,” Congresswoman Anna Eskamani (D-Florida) told the Florida Phoenix in an email after the press conference.”This is just another example of extreme anti-reproductive healthcare politicians inserting themselves between women and their doctors. Medication abortion is incredibly safe, and it’s important to note that more than 57% of Floridians—based in [sic] the support for Amendment 4 in 2024—want politicians like Uthmeier to stop their anti-reproductive healthcare agenda.” In Missouri and Kansas, as well, people overwhelmingly protected abortion access by voting for abortion rights amendments. 

Eskamani concluded: “He should be focused on going after insurance companies that deny access to care, not trying to take away access to care.”


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