Sen. Josh Hawley pressed for action on the chemical abortion drug Mifepristone, arguing it’s dangerous, prone to abuse, and that Congress must step in to restore safeguards removed by recent administrations.
Senator Josh Hawley has been pushing hard to reverse policies that made abortion drugs easily available by mail, arguing those policies opened the door to health risks and legal skirtings of state pro-life laws. He framed the mail-order access as a radical shift that weakened in-person safety protocols and widened the opportunity for misuse. Hawley points to data and real stories to make the case that those changes were not about safety, but politics.
Hawley has criticized the FDA for continuing approvals even as new research raises alarms about adverse events and misuse. “This is shocking. FDA has just approved ANOTHER chemical abortion drug, when the evidence shows chemical abortion drugs are dangerous and even deadly for the mother. And of course 100% lethal to the child,” Hawley wrote on X at the time, calling the FDA’s decision “baffling.” He argues that regulatory looseness has amplified risks for women nationwide.
At a recent pro-life press conference Hawley made his intent plain and urgent. He said, “We are here today to issue a call to action. To call on the United States Congress to stand up and to protect the innocent unborn. To protect the health and safety of women whose lives are endangered from the abortion drug known as Mefiprestone.” Those remarks set the tone for his next move: legislation to withdraw FDA approval.
Hawley repeatedly cited a study of insurance claims showing serious adverse events in roughly 11 percent of Mifepristone cases, framing that figure as deeply concerning for maternal safety. He warned of internal infections, sepsis, hemorrhaging, emergency room visits and other life-threatening outcomes tied to the drug. “Now that’s the technical term. What it means in practice is internal infections, sepsis, hemorrhaging, a trip to the emergency room. A life-threatening condition,” Hawley said, stressing how common and serious those complications can be.
He also placed the scale of use in stark terms, noting Mifepristone’s broad role in U.S. abortion practice. “Since 2000, the number of women who have taken this drug for use in an abortion tops 7.5 million. Mifepristone now accounts for 70 percent of the abortions conducted in the United States of America. This is a drug that is incredibly widespread and is inherently dangerous,” Hawley told reporters, arguing that policy choices deliberately encouraged that shift.
A big part of his case was the risk of intentional abuse. Hawley highlighted prosecutions of men who allegedly forced pills on women or slipped them into drinks and food. “Just in the last year or so, about a dozen men have been charged criminally in different jurisdictions around the country with using Mifepristone to force on girlfriends or people they hardly know abortions they didn’t want,” he said, warning that the pill’s capsule form and unregulated distribution make it easy to weaponize against women for whom it was never intended.
Hawley contrasted current practice with earlier rules that required in-person prescriptions, physician administration, and follow-up care. He accused successive liberal administrations of stripping those safeguards to prioritize abortion access over patient safety. “Over the years, one liberal administration after another — President Obama and then President BIden — removed almost all of the safety protocols around Mifepristone, such that today it is almost wholly unregulated,” he said, blaming political objectives for the present danger.
Survivors and victims spoke at the event, and Hawley introduced women who described trauma, confusion, and recovery after taking or being given the pill. One woman, Rebecca, recounted being told the pill was “simple, as private, as safe, as natural, as less expensive, as easier to hide” and said she had no counseling or waiting period before getting a quick explanation of a two-step process. “I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” she said, and later received medical care that reversed the abortion and saved her child.
Those personal accounts underscored the senator’s broader legislative goal: return the decision about Mifepristone’s availability to Congress and restore stricter oversight. Hawley announced a bill that would strip the drug of FDA approval and pressed colleagues for support. “I’m going to work with my colleagues. My hope is to get 60 votes,” he said, insisting that only Congress can permanently withdraw the certification in a way that endures beyond shifting administrations.
Hawley framed the debate as a clash between restoring medical safeguards and the current system that, in his view, prioritizes unfettered access. He warned that leaving the status quo intact invites further harm and more cases like those described at the press event. The outcome, he argued, should be decided by elected lawmakers rather than left to agency rulings or the pressures of national politics.
