House Republican suggests defunding FDA if Texas abortion pill ruling not followed

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) warned that Republicans should consider defunding the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) if the Biden administration does not adhere to a ruling from a federal judge last week that blocked the long-standing approval of an abortion medication.

A federal judge in Texas last week blocked the federal approval of mifepristone, an abortion drug that has been on the market for over 20 years. But Democrats, including Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), have floated the idea of the White House not adhering to the ruling, urging President Biden to ignore the decision. 

“It's very dangerous when you have the administration, the Biden administration, coming out and saying they may not uphold a ruling,” Gonzales said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “The House Republicans have the power of the purse. And if the administration wants to not live up to this ruling, then we're going to have a problem… it may come to a point where House Republicans on the appropriation side have to defund FDA programs that don't make sense.”

The federal judge that blocked the approval argued that the federal government rushed its approval process of the drug, resulting in an unsafe medication being put on the market. The FDA appealed the decision to the conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeal.

The White House was quick to appeal the decision from the judge in Texas, but has not publicly weighed in on the idea of ignoring the ruling altogether. Instead, Biden has criticized the decision and promised to fight it in court.

“If this ruling were to stand, then there will be virtually no prescription, approved by the FDA, that would be safe from these kinds of political, ideological attacks,” Biden said in a statement after the ruling. “My Administration will fight this ruling.”