Nancy Mace Gets It

After a federal judge suspended the abortion pill, the Republican congresswoman called on the Biden admin to ignore the ruling.

Tom Williams/AP

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The November midterms proved it. So too, did the most important race of 2023 when Wisconsin voters overwhelmingly chose a progressive judge for their supreme court:  Abortion rights win elections. 

Yet, despite the issue’s resounding success on the ballot after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, Republicans have only lurched deeper to the right. But after a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas suspended the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone late Friday, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) broke with her Republican colleagues to agree with Democrats in calling on the Biden administration to ignore the unprecedented ruling. 

“This is an FDA-approved drug. Whether you agree with its usage or not, that’s not your decision,” she told CNN in an interview Monday. “That is the FDA’s decision.”

“When you look at the law the judge used,” she said, referring to the Comstock Act, a 19th-century anti-obscenity law, “this thing should be thrown out.”

The remarks, which echoed similar observations from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in the wake of Friday’s ruling, add to Mace’s ongoing criticism of her party as it continues to lose elections largely over its extreme positions on reproductive rights. After Friday’s ruling, which officially ushered in the next chapter of the anti-abortion movement’s crusade to federally ban all abortions, Mace’s comments land as a rare moment of moderation in a party that has told members to stay extreme.

“We are getting it wrong on this issue,” she continued. “We’ve got to show some compassion to women, especially women who’ve been raped. We’ve got to show compassion on the abortion issue because by and large, most Americans aren’t with us on this issue.”

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We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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