Josh Hawley Calls on FDA to Restrict Abortion Pill Based on Bogus ‘Study’ from Right-Wing Org

The Missouri Senator is demanding changes to mifepristone two weeks after his wife's employer launched an attack on birth control.

By Susan Rinkunas | April 30, 2025 | 10:36am

Photo: Getty Images Abortion Politics

Josh Hawley Calls on FDA to Restrict Abortion Pill Based on Bogus ‘Study’ from Right-Wing Org

In March, Dr. Marty Makary was confirmed by the Senate to lead the Food and Drug Administration—but not before squirming through his hearing when asked about medication abortion. He said he had no “preconceived plans” to restrict current access, but that he would review the data. Mifepristone is the first drug in the medication abortion regimen, which comprised nearly two-thirds of all abortions in 2023; conservatives want the FDA to end telemedicine prescriptions of the drug, and roll back approval from 10 weeks of pregnancy to seven.

Makary, a researcher and surgeon, reiterated last week that he had “no plans” to restrict access to the drug, but added that “if the data suggests something or tells us that there’s a real signal, we can’t promise we’re not going to act on that data.” Cut to Monday, when Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote a letter to Makary citing a bogus “study” from a right-wing group as a reason to slash access to the medication.

Most Popular

The “study” is a data analysis published on the website of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, notably not in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Perhaps seeking to gussy up this little paper, EPPC did say that people who participated in the research “have a history of academic research and peer-reviewed publication.” One must then ask: why didn’t they submit this analysis to a journal? Perhaps because they wanted to use a title like “The Abortion Pill Harms Women: Insurance Data Reveals One in Ten Patients Experiences a Serious Adverse Event.” Actual studies on mifepristone don’t have titles like that. We should also note at this juncture that EPPC’s president emeritus is Ed Whelan, the guy who argued in a bizarre Twitter thread that then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was innocent of sexual assault by referencing Google Maps and Zillow floor plans.

EPPC claims that its analysis of insurance data shows that about 10% of patients prescribed mifepristone between 2017 to 2023 had serious adverse events such as sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or an emergency room visit, which is higher than what the FDA reports. But mifepristone isn’t just used for abortions—it can be prescribed for miscarriage management. As journalist Garnet Henderson pointed out, EPPC’s definition of “mifepristone abortions” could have turned up claims of people who were given mifepristone without misoprostol, the second drug in the medication abortion regimen, or of people who never even took the drug.

And based on these broad criteria, it appears the data likely include people who had spontaneous miscarriages and may even include people who were prescribed mifepristone for another reason, or were prescribed mifepristone and didn't take it.

— Garnet Henderson (@garnethenderson.com) 2025-04-29T16:18:33.086Z

The group also considers needing an abortion procedure if the pills fail a “serious adverse event.” But while it’s annoying when a medication doesn’t work, this is neither a serious nor an adverse result. “This is a known potential outcome of the treatment,” OB/GYN Daniel Grossman told writer Jessica Valenti. “And patients are told that medication abortion is about 95%-97% effective before they choose this abortion method.” So EPPC is over-counting complications.

Hawley said in his letter to Makary, “The time to act is now. It is time to revisit and restore the FDA’s longstanding safety measures governing mifepristone.” The FDA first approved mifepristone in 2000, then approved it for use through 10 weeks in 2016, and allowed telehealth prescriptions in 2021. Hawley asked Makary to respond by May 15.

Other anti-abortion groups are also jumping on the flawed analysis as a reason to act. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said in a statement, “The new reports uncovered today are disturbing. We urge the FDA under new leadership to take a fresh, hard look at the data and reinstate strong safeguards for women and girls.” Meanwhile, Live Action falsely referred to it as a “bombshell” report and suggested it was a reason to remove the pill from the market altogether.

Hawley has been talking for months about ending telemedicine for mifepristone, even saying that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, “pledged” to make the change in meetings before his confirmation hearing. Coincidentally, requiring in-person dispensing was the goal of a Supreme Court case that Hawley’s wife, Erin, argued before the justices in March 2024. (That case is still ongoing, now with Republican Attorneys General as the plaintiffs instead of anti-abortion doctors.)

This letter comes two weeks after Alliance Defending Freedom, the Christian law firm where Hawley’s wife works, urged the Department of Health and Human Services to cut ties with a top gynecologist group that recommends insurance coverage of birth control. ADF falsely claims that IUDs and emergency contraception actually cause abortions and insurers shouldn’t have to cover them. This is the start of an attack on birth control from the same group that wrote the law the Supreme Court used to overturn Roe v. Wade. It seems both members of this couple are busy trying to restrict people’s access to healthcare.

Like what you just read? You’ve got great taste. Subscribe to Jezebel, and for $5 a month or $50 a year, you’ll get access to a bunch of subscriber benefits, including getting to read the next article (and all the ones after that) ad-free. Plus, you’ll be supporting independent journalism—which, can you even imagine not supporting independent journalism in times like these? Yikes.