Zincwarrior
Diamond Member
MAGA Senator looks to obviate the FDA and ban Mifepristone, a key ingredient to mail order abortion pills. I am sure this is completely in line with Republican’s staying out of the bedroom and not telling people what to do.
Hawley introduces bill to remove FDA approval for Mifepristone
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Wednesday unveiled legislation to remove Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the use of mifepristone to end pregnancies, a bill that has quickly gained the support of major anti-abortion groups.
The legislation is an ambitious undertaking given the drug’s widespread use in the United States, where an estimated 7.5 million women have used it to terminate pregnancies since the FDA approved its use in 2000. It accounted for 63 percent of all abortions in the U.S. in 2023.
But mifepristone, which when combined with the drug misoprostol can end pregnancies at up to 70 days of gestation, has become a major target of the anti-abortion movement. President Trump has sought to satisfy those anti-abortion voices by launching an FDA review of the drug, which has not been completed.
Hawley says the ability of doctors to prescribe the drug across state lines has led to rampant abuse and alleges that incidences of adverse health effects are far more common than the drug’s maker, Danco Laboratories, has acknowledged.
“We’ve known for years that mifepristone is risky but it’s really just in the last few years that we’ve learned that this drug is inherently dangerous and it is inherently prone to abuse,” he said, citing a study of 875,000 mifepristone prescriptions showing that in 11 percent of cases in which women take the drug to end a pregnancy, there are “serious adverse health” effects.
“What it means in practice is internal infections, sepsis, a trip to the emergency room, a life-threatening condition — in 11 percent of cases,” he said.
That study, from the Ethics and Public Policy Center, has been the subject of numerous fact checks disputing its findings. The FDA puts the rate of serious adverse effects at 0.5 percent, and KFF notes other studies have come to similar conclusions.
Still, Hawley says those numbers hide the true number of injuries caused by the medication.
“This is a drug that is incredibly widespread and is inherently dangerous, it is also inherently prone to abuse,” he said, noting that about a dozen men have been charged around the country with using mifepristone to force on girlfriends or female acquaintances abortions they didn’t want.
The Supreme Court decision overturning the federal right to an abortion, combined with the COVID-19 pandemic prompting the FDA to ease some restrictions, led to an increase in the use of the medication.
Hawley introduces bill to remove FDA approval for Mifepristone
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Wednesday unveiled legislation to remove Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the use of mifepristone to end pregnancies, a bill that has quickly gained the support of major anti-abortion groups.
The legislation is an ambitious undertaking given the drug’s widespread use in the United States, where an estimated 7.5 million women have used it to terminate pregnancies since the FDA approved its use in 2000. It accounted for 63 percent of all abortions in the U.S. in 2023.
But mifepristone, which when combined with the drug misoprostol can end pregnancies at up to 70 days of gestation, has become a major target of the anti-abortion movement. President Trump has sought to satisfy those anti-abortion voices by launching an FDA review of the drug, which has not been completed.
Hawley says the ability of doctors to prescribe the drug across state lines has led to rampant abuse and alleges that incidences of adverse health effects are far more common than the drug’s maker, Danco Laboratories, has acknowledged.
“We’ve known for years that mifepristone is risky but it’s really just in the last few years that we’ve learned that this drug is inherently dangerous and it is inherently prone to abuse,” he said, citing a study of 875,000 mifepristone prescriptions showing that in 11 percent of cases in which women take the drug to end a pregnancy, there are “serious adverse health” effects.
“What it means in practice is internal infections, sepsis, a trip to the emergency room, a life-threatening condition — in 11 percent of cases,” he said.
That study, from the Ethics and Public Policy Center, has been the subject of numerous fact checks disputing its findings. The FDA puts the rate of serious adverse effects at 0.5 percent, and KFF notes other studies have come to similar conclusions.
Still, Hawley says those numbers hide the true number of injuries caused by the medication.
“This is a drug that is incredibly widespread and is inherently dangerous, it is also inherently prone to abuse,” he said, noting that about a dozen men have been charged around the country with using mifepristone to force on girlfriends or female acquaintances abortions they didn’t want.
The Supreme Court decision overturning the federal right to an abortion, combined with the COVID-19 pandemic prompting the FDA to ease some restrictions, led to an increase in the use of the medication.
