Rep. Grim Joins More Than 600 State Legislators in Amicus Brief to Preserve Medication Abortion Access

COLUMBUS – State Rep. Michele Grim (D-Toledo) last week, along with 603 legislators across 49 states from State Innovation Exchange’s (SiX) Reproductive Freedom Leadership Council (RFLC), submitted an amicus brief calling on the Supreme Court to review  FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a case that will have nationwide implications for abortion access, including in Ohio. 

“I’m proud to join more than 600 state legislators across the country as we make our voices heard for reproductive freedom and Ohioans' access to care,” said Rep Grim. “Ohioans deserve the right to bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom; I will continue to do everything in my power as a state legislator to support that right and be a voice at the Statehouse.”

“As we face an abortion access crisis in this country, state lawmakers are on the front lines of determining the future of abortion care,” said Jennifer Driver, Senior Director of Reproductive Rights at SiX. “Now, in a case that has the potential to reverberate across all 50 states, those same lawmakers are calling on the Supreme Court to intervene before the landscape for care is further decimated.” 

In the brief, Rep. Grim and fellow state legislators appealed to the United States Supreme Court to reject the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ August decision which would reverse over 20 years of advancements in care and interfere with legislators’ authority to protect care for their communities.

The case, which is the first abortion-related matter before the high court since it overturned Roe v. Wade over a year ago, challenges the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, one of two medications used in medication abortion care that’s backed by over two decades of safety and effectiveness. In the amicus brief, lawmakers argue that if the Fifth Circuit’s decision goes into effect, it would undermine the FDA’s authority to approve medications on the market, which lawmakers rely on to safeguard access to essential medications.

The state of Ohio currently allows abortion care up to 21 weeks, 6 days. This is only due to a challenge in court. Without this challenge, abortion would be banned at 6 weeks, due to a previous state law. Those seeking abortion in the state of Ohio must come up against a variety of laws that make it difficult to access care, such as: mandatory waiting periods.

This amicus brief to the Supreme Court is the only brief backed by state legislators on this case. The RFLC is the nation’s only cross-state network of state legislators who support reproductive health, rights, and justice. The Council is a project of SiX, which gives state legislators the tools and building blocks they need to champion bold, progressive public policy.⿯