Hawley Moves to Strip FDA Approval from Abortion Pill

WASHINGTON — Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has introduced legislation which seeks to ban mifepristone, the drug used in the majority of medication abortions in the United States, by revoking its approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

The bill, titled the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act, would rescind the FDA’s decades-old approval of mifepristone for use in terminating pregnancies, prohibit its distribution and labeling for that purpose under federal law, and create a legal avenue for women who allege harm from the drug to sue its manufacturers.

Hawley unveiled the measure at a press conference in the Senate Judiciary hearing room, where he rightfully labeled Mifepristone as “inherently dangerous” and susceptible to misuse. He also took aim at the FDA for progressively loosening safety restrictions over the past two decades. Such restrictions included permitting mail-order delivery of the drug, which he argued has allowed the drug to bypass state regulations and left some women contending with serious complications, including heavy bleeding and sepsis, without adequate medical supervision.

“Only Congress can address this situation,” Hawley said. “Only Congress is placed to regulate the flow of interstate drugs… Congress should act.”

The stakes are considerable. According to data from the Guttmacher Institute, medication abortions accounted for 63 percent of all abortions in the United States in 2023, a share that has continued to climb. So if one believed that abortion access ended with the overturn of Roe v. Wade, they would be sorely mistaken.

The press conference also featured testimony from Elizabeth Gillette, who spoke about her personal experience with the abortion pill. She described severe physical and emotional trauma, complications far beyond what she had been told to expect, an absence of follow-up care, and a subsequent diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.

“It was so different from the double period and the extra clotting that they told me I would experience,” Gillette said. “In that moment, I had to decide if I was going to throw my child in the trash or flush my child down the toilet… There was no follow-up care. And instead of relief, I got horrible nightmares. I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, which I still suffer to this day. This is not safe. This is not easy.”

Hawley says the legislation is an important measure to protect women’s health and confront the profit-driven system in which pharmaceutical companies bear little accountability for the drug’s risks. He expressed confidence in bipartisan interest and called on Congress to make the bill a priority, particularly in the post-Dobbs landscape, where medication abortion can cross state lines via mail and effectively circumvent state-level restrictions.

Companion legislation was introduced in the House by Representative Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.), and the bill has garnered support from a range of pro-life organizations who have cited various concerns about the adverse health effects and the erosion of state authority over abortion law.

Opponents, including Planned Parenthood, have also pushed back, defending Mifepristone over women’s health. And why wouldn’t they? Especially seeing as it has become their primary focus of making money off and secondly, getting abortion into states where it isn’t permitted.

The bill’s path forward in Congress remains unclear as debates over federal regulation of abortion-related medications continue. This issue is, however, one that we should be praying over, as well as taking action upon by calling our legislators in the House to vote in favor of this righteous bill.

Thank you for your support.

If you appreciate the work we do to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, please consider giving a gift to help us continue this work. Maranatha!