Abortion pill safety review at FDA targeted by frustrated Republicans, advocates
Louisiana Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy speaks during a press conference on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. Also pictured, from left, are Family Foundation of Virginia President Victoria Cobb, National Association of Christian Lawmakers Founder and President Jason Rapert, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and Missouri Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — Republicans on a key U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday called on the Food and Drug Administration to wrap up its ongoing safety review of medication abortion and pressed for the Trump administration to once again require in-person dispensing.
Democrats on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee argued women, not politicians, are in the best position to determine whether to ask for a prescription for mifepristone.
Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, chairman of the panel, said he hopes FDA Commissioner Marty Makary will agree to testify before the committee on the process in the future, though he didn’t set a deadline.
“At an absolute minimum, the previous in-person safeguards should be restored and it should be done immediately,” Cassidy said.
Republicans and anti-abortion organizations have become increasingly skeptical about the FDA’s review after news broke in December that Makary wanted to delay its release until after the November midterm elections.
Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray questioned Cassidy’s reasons for holding the hearing, saying more than “160 high-quality studies have been conducted and millions of women around the world use mifepristone safely every year with fewer complications, by the way, than Viagra or penicillin.”
Supreme Court case
Access to mifepristone, one of two pharmaceuticals used in medication abortion, which is FDA-approved for up to 10 weeks gestation, surged to the forefront after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the nationwide right to abortion in 2022.
Many Republican state legislatures have moved to bar access to mifepristone for abortions, while Democratic states have enacted shield laws to protect health care providers who prescribe and ship it to people in states with limited or no access.
Dr. Nisha Verma, a fellow at Physicians for Reproductive Health in Atlanta, testified before the committee that “the science on mifepristone’s safety and effectiveness is long-standing and settled.”
“Over the past 25 years, medication abortion using mifepristone and misoprostol has been rigorously studied and proven safe and effective in over 100 high-quality, peer-reviewed studies,” Verma said. “Extensive data show that medication abortion through telehealth is equally safe and effective and provides vital access for those who live in rural areas and in the growing number of maternity care deserts in the country.”
Verma contended the likely reason for the hearing was not genuine concern from Republicans about the safety and efficacy of mifepristone but “because people in this room feel uncomfortable with abortion.”
“And that’s okay, and we can talk about that,” Verma said. “And we can have an honest conversation about that and complexity and the reasons that my patients need abortion care. But we should not pretend that this is an issue of the science.”
Louisiana attorney general testifies
Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill, a Republican, criticized the FDA’s decision during the Biden administration to allow prescriptions via telehealth and for the pharmaceuticals to be shipped, sometimes into states that bar their use.
“Shield laws in some states protect providers from liability and effectively nullify laws in other states,” Murrill said. “Their purpose is to make it more difficult to sue or prosecute individuals in those states.”
Indiana Republican Sen. Jim Banks expressed frustration that FDA Commissioner Makary was not among the witnesses testifying at the hearing and urged the agency to release the results of its review of mifepristone quickly.
“I’m disappointed that the FDA under Dr. Makary’s leadership hasn’t moved faster to restore the in-person dispensing requirement and strengthen the (Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies) program for mifepristone,” Banks said. “I hope the rumors are false, some of them are in print, that the agency is intentionally slow-walking its study on mifepristone health risks.”
Emily G. Hilliard, press secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the FDA, wrote in a statement the department “is conducting a study of reported adverse events associated with mifepristone to assess whether the FDA’s risk mitigation program continues to provide appropriate protections for women.”
“The FDA’s scientific review process is thorough and takes the time necessary to ensure decisions are grounded in gold-standard science,” Hilliard wrote. “Dr. Makary is upholding that standard as part of the Department’s commitment to rigorous, evidence-based review.”
Cassidy said after Banks raised his concerns that he hopes to have Makary testify “before the committee very soon and we’ve been speaking with the FDA to facilitate discussion on this and other issues.”
Cassidy added that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “did promise to come back and we have requested that he come back and testify.”
Republicans, Family Research Council urge action by FDA
During a press conference after the hearing, Cassidy joined a handful of other GOP lawmakers and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins to further press the Trump administration to change the prescription guidelines for mifepristone.
Perkins said the Trump administration could change FDA guidelines around how mifepristone is prescribed and distributed “overnight” if it wanted to.
He also said it should immediately begin enforcing The Comstock Act, an 1873 law that could block shipping medication abortion.
“This is a two-step solution. One, is the in-person requirement being reestablished, the medical examinations to ensure that the women, their lives, are not put at risk,” Perkins said. “But then also … simply enforcing the law as it pertains to Comstock.”