An anti-abortion advocacy group is warning the Trump administration that a safety review of the abortion pill mifepristone will fail unless federal regulators conduct their own analysis and avoid relying on outside studies that have found the drug safe and effective when used as directed.
The administration announced last week it is reviewing safety protocols for mifepristone, part of a two-drug regimen used for medication abortions — now the most common method in the U.S., according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, told The Hill she is sending letters to the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Justice, and the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the review.
“Even if you wanted to accept past studies, chemical abortion pills today are distributed on an unprecedent scale that conservatively results in more than 50 tons of chemically tainted blood, placenta tissue, and human remains being flushed into America’s waterways each year,” Hawkins wrote.
She asked which agencies will conduct the review.
“Deep state agendas will likely taint the outcomes,” she said.
In a letter earlier this month responding to several Republican state attorneys general, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said, “HHS — through the FDA — is conducting its own review of the evidence, including real-world outcomes … relating to the safety and efficacy of the drug,” according to CBS News.
The letter referenced an Ethics and Public Policy Center study that found nearly 11% of patients experience serious adverse events within 45 days.
Kennedy and Makary did not give a completion date but told the attorneys general, “We will keep you informed as the FDA’s review of mifepristone progresses.”
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Students for Life of America discussed two priorities with Trump officials, according to The Hill: ending federal funding for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers and ending support and distribution of mifepristone.
The FDA originally approved mifepristone in 2000; the agency extended use to 10 weeks’ gestation in 2016 and later removed the in-person dispensing requirement, which was formalized in 2023.
Four states — Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, and North Carolina — explicitly ban mailing abortion pills to patients, according to Guttmacher’s state policy resources.
Nine states — Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia — explicitly ban telehealth for medication abortion and/or mailing the drugs, according to KFF.
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