Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Sunday that he did not agree with the decision from a federal district judge in Texas who handed down a national ban on a popular abortion drug because a district judge should not issue “a national decree.”
“I don’t like a district court judge issuing a national decree,” Graham said on ABC’s “This Week.” “Even if I agree with the judge.”
The decision earlier this month by the federal judge in Texas to block mifepristone, a widely used abortion pill that has been approved for over 20 years, was quickly appealed by the Biden administration. An appeals court allowed the drug to be used with restrictions, including not allowing the pill to be sent through the mail. The Biden administration has appealed to the Supreme Court on the issue.
The legal fight over the use of mifepristone has turned into a partisan battle about abortion access, with many Republicans appealing to the courts to uphold a ban on the drug and Democrats saying the decision in Texas is another example of judicial overreach on the issue since the fall of Roe v. Wade last year.
Democrats have also argued that the decision to restrict the drug is a massive overstep of the judiciary into the regulatory process, second-guessing the decisions of experts and medical officials. They say the blocking of mifepristone could put the approval of other drugs into jeopardy.
While Graham said on Sunday that he agrees with the underlying decision by the district court to block the drug, he wants to see what the Supreme Court decides.
“I think the radical abortion policies of the Biden administration are wrong,” Graham said. “But, at the end of the day, we’re a rule of law nation, and let’s see what the Supreme Court does with this.”