The FDA is Moving Forward With a Needless Investigation of a Medication That More Than 7.5 Million Americans Have Used

For more than 10 years, the FDA used countless studies to deem mifepristone, the first of two pills taken in a medication abortion, safe. This guideline was affirmed not by political motivations, but real, hard science. Alas, a more recent study revealed real, hard science seems to have no place in modern-day America, and on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal confirmed the FDA is moving forward with a needless re-review into the pill that appears to be a move to restrict—and ultimately eliminate—access to a medication that more than 7.5 million Americans have used for abortion and miscarriage care. Welp. Gotta love an FDA who hates us. 

Per agency officials that spoke to the WSJ, the FDA is aiming for a “robust study that will withstand legal criticism.” Which sounds like some real bullshit, considering the administration’s already been dodging a number of FOIAs trying to understand more of what this re-review—which we still know close to nothing about—actually entails. 

“The FDA’s review is a politically motivated farce,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, told Jezebel in a statement. “The Trump administration is bulldozing the overwhelming body of medical research and evidence to try to make it harder for everyone, everywhere to get an abortion.“ 

The re-review in question was pushed for by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) for more than a year, starting in April 2025, when he started amplifying a “bogus study” published by a far-right think tank claiming the pill has “adverse effects.” (Spoiler alert! It doesn’t.) In June, former FDA Head Marty Makary agreed he would comply with Hawley’s demands and re-review the pill; in August, more than 20 anti-abortion AGs from the GOP sent a letter to the administration pushing to speed things up; and in September, Makary and RFK officially confirmed they would be launching the investigation. In December, it was reported that Makary was dragging his feet on the re-review—and trying to stall things until after the midterms were over—something that had a hand in booting him from his position last month.

Makary’s slow-walking also reflected that of the Trump administration, which for most of this year has been toning down its anti-abortion agenda and instead freaking out about its narrowing hold on the House and Senate. (The White House seems very aware that killing reproductive rights is not popular among Americans.) 

According to FDA officials that spoke to the WSJ, however, the agency’s delay in kicking things off is because it’s been preparing for the review by “acquiring data and examining whether a study was feasible,” and that it’s only now accelerating the study because of its conversations with anti-abortion groups. Hmm. It also added that it’s trying to comply with a deadline set by a judge from Louisiana earlier this year, relating to a lawsuit against the FDA that asks the court to reinstate a requirement that mandates patients to get the pills in person. 

“The FDA has been actively working on a science-based safety review of the mifepristone REMS for months, as the agency has stated publicly and in court filings,” the FDA announced in a statement. “Any reporting suggesting otherwise, including that a study is just being started, is either false or based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how complex scientific safety studies work.” Again—we still know next to nothing about this study.

“More than 100 studies and decades of real-world evidence show that mifepristone is safe and effective, both when provided in person or by telehealth,” Amy Friedrich-Karnik, director of federal policy at the Guttmacher Institute, also told Jezebel in a statement. “If the FDA is able to withstand political pressure and adheres to its past high standards of scientific integrity, then its review will affirm the long-standing scientific consensus.”