Valley Representative Bill Johnson has joined 66 other Republican members of Congress in asking an appeals court to uphold the decision of a federal judge in Texas that would halt the prescription of a widely used abortion pill.

Johnson joins 13 Senators and 53 other GOP Representatives in signing an amicus brief supporting a lawsuit challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s approval and deregulation of Mifepristone.

“The FDA’s reckless decisions to approve and deregulate chemical abortion drugs put the profits and political agenda of the abortion industry over the law and abundant evidence that abortion drugs present harm to women, girls, and their unborn babies,” said Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, who also signed the brief.

Also adding their signatures to the brief are Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Johnson’s fellow Ohio Republicans, Warren Davidson, and Brad R. Wenstrup. Johnson's district includes Mahoning and Columbiana Counties.

Names not appearing on the brief included Ohio J.D. Vance, as well as fellow Republican Representative Dave Joyce, whose district includes Trumbull County.

No Pennsylvania members of Congress, including Representative Mike Kelly, appeared in the brief.

The Republican brief comes after 240 members of Congress, including Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, submitted a brief seeking a stay on the abortion pill ban pending an appeal.

The Justice Department is appealing the Texas court ruling which could restrict access to abortion medication as early as Friday.

Pharmaceutical executives are warning that the ruling could endanger other medications.

President Biden called the Texas court ruling “completely out of bounds”.