It’s no secret that Project 2025 and the Republican occasion are coming for reproductive rights. They’ve been attacking abortion rights on all fronts, from attempting to close down clinics, to attempting to overturn legal guidelines, to battling it out within the courts. Whereas they’ve had some large wins — akin to overturning Roe V. Wade in 2022 — they’ve additionally had hassle getting traction in different areas, akin to banning abortion medicine, largely as a consequence of the truth that the majority of Americans are pro choice.
Now, conservatives are working exhausting to ban mifepristone, one of many two medicine used within the “abortion capsule” utilized in medical abortions. Their latest effort is spearheaded by Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, who has launched a invoice that may ban the drug from being administered and strip it of approval by the Meals & Drug Administration.
“We’ve recognized for years that mifepristone is dangerous, however it’s actually simply in the previous couple of years that we’ve discovered this drug is inherently harmful and it’s inherently susceptible to abuse,” Hawley said during a news conference asserting the invoice.
Hawley bases his opinion in regards to the “loss of life capsule” as he has known as it, on a 2025 study of mifepristone that was performed by conservative assume tank, the Ethics and Public Coverage Middle. The report, which was funded by the correct, discovered that 11% of individuals taking the drug suffered “critical adversarial results.” However nearer inspection has discovered that the examine hid a few of its knowledge, was not peer-reviewed, and has a really imprecise and broad definition of what a “critical adversarial impact” is.
Apart from this remoted piece of analysis, nevertheless, the drug has been discovered to be extremely secure — safer than other popular drugs, amongst them penicillin and Viagra. It has successful price of up to 98 percent for pregnancies as much as eight weeks and is 14 occasions safer than childbirth. It was initially authorized by the FDA in 2000 and was authorized to be prescribed by way of telehealth in 2020.
In 2024, a gaggle of conservative medical doctors tried to ban the drug by way of the Supreme Courtroom — an effort that concerned Hawley’s spouse, who’s a lawyer. The judges unanimously declined to take mifepristone off the market.
Extra lately, RFK Jr., the Secretary of Well being and Human Providers, has mentioned that the FDA will overview the security of the drug in gentle of latest research — once more citing the one examine performed by the conservative assume tank.
If handed, the laws delivered to Congress by Hawley would instantly ban the drug in the USA.
Trending Merchandise
