Mike Pence to Newsmax: FDA Exceeded Authority in Approving Abortion Pill

Former Vice President Mike Pence told Newsmax on Tuesday a ruling by a federal judge in Texas suspending the use of the abortion drug mifepristone has been long overdue because the Food and Drug Administration exceeded its authority in approving the drug more than 20 years ago.

“I’m pro-life. I don’t apologize for it,” Pence told “The Record With Greta Van Susteren.” “I truly do believe that more than 20 years ago, the FDA exceeded its authority in approving the abortion pill, and American women have paid a price over the last 20 years.”

The FDA approved mifepristone – used with misoprostol to cause an abortion — in September 2000. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Donald Trump appointee, suspended the FDA’s approval of the drug on Friday, virtually banning the sale of the pills across the country. The decision will not take effect for a week, giving higher courts time to consider an appeal the Biden administration filed that night.

However, in Washington state, U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice, a Barack Obama appointee, issued a conflicting order Friday night that blocks the FDA from rolling back access to the pills in a dozen Democrat-run states that brought the lawsuit.

“There have been hundreds and hundreds of documented cases of women that have suffered severe health outcomes after taking the abortion pill,” Pence said. “But the truth is, the FDA, they end-ran their [approval] process. I was grateful the federal judge, while it was 20 years in the making, has managed to put a halt to this.”

He said he expects the Texas and Washington state cases will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Pence touched on other topics during his interview:

Jan. 6 Testimony

Regarding his possible testimony in front of a grand jury investigation Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, Pence said he will say nothing he has not already said regarding discussions with Trump about those events or that he included in his autobiography, “So Help Me God.” Trump is suing to prevent Pence from testifying, claiming any conversations between the two would fall under executive privilege.

“I’m an open book,” Pence said. “I mean, literally. I wrote a book about my years in public service. I wrote very candidly about the days leading up to that fateful day in January of 2021. … The American people can be confident that as I’m called before the grand jury, I will tell them exactly what I told the American people in numerous interviews and also in the pages of my autobiography.”

U.S. as a Global Leader

He said weakness in American leadership globally is leading to a vacuum that is being filled by China. He pointed to French President Emmanuel Macron stating recently that Europe will remain independent if China happens to attack Taiwan.

“If America is not leading in the world, the free world is not being led,” Pence said. “I thought that the signal that the president of France sent this week with regard to Taiwan is evidence of an absence of American leadership on the global stage, and it’s one that has to be corrected.”