Now, this week the Trump administration has asked a federal district judge in Texas to dismiss a lawsuit from the Republican attorneys general of Missouri, Idaho and Kansas challenging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for lax abortion pill guidelines.
The states say lack of oversight allows mail-order abortion pills to circumvent the will of voters in states where abortion is restricted.
There’s been no clear word as to why the Trump administration has taken this stance but Josh Hawley, a Republican senator from Missouri, wants to hear it.
Trump has taken credit – through his appointment of justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett -- for the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and return control of abortion to the states.
But this action early in his second term contradicts that position, Hawley said on Washington Watch Wednesday.
“It’s really a question of are voters going to be able to set policy and protect life in their states or not?” Hawley told show host Tony Perkins.
Clearly, the will of voters was ignored by Trump’s predecessor, Hawley said.
“The position of the Biden administration is it doesn't matter what the voters vote anywhere. It doesn't matter what state legislatures do. The Biden DOJ and the Biden FDA said ‘we're going to allow providers to mail in chemical abortion drugs into every state, no matter what,’” Hawley said.
Hawley, the former attorney general for Missouri, disagreed with the Trump administration’s position that the states – Missouri, Idaho and Kansas – lacked the legal standing to bring the charges in a Texas court.
“I do not buy the argument at all that the states don't have the right to bring this suit, and that's really what the Department of Justice said here. They quarreled a little bit with what court it got brought in, which is sort of a lot of legalese, but then they also said, ‘you know, we really doubt, frankly, that states have the ability to bring this suit at all,’” Hawley said.
Hawley said too many Missouri women are experiencing “major health effects, adverse health effects” from abortion pills being mailed to residents.
“And that’s why Missouri is suing,” he said.
How the case got here
Not only did the Biden administration make mail-order abortion easier, it relaxed safety guidelines as well.
In 2021 Biden extended a temporary decision that, for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, lifted the requirement that mifepristone, the first of two pills in the chemical abortion process, be provided in-person by a medical professional after an exam.
While Trump championed the rights of states in the abortion discussion, the GOP adjusted its position.
Many pro-life advocates were angered last summer when the Republican National Committee, poised to make Trump its party nominee, weakened its stance against abortion in the party platform.
Gone from previous platforms were support for a human life amendment to the Constitution and a commitment to endorse legislation that would clarify that 14th Amendment protections apply to unborn children.
Now the Justice Department’s action “seems to me to be totally antithetical to the president’s position during the campaign and also to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling,” Hawley said.
In response, Hawley wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday urging the DOJ to reconsider its position.
“Missouri, joined by Idaho and Kansas, is seeking to restore safeguards for the chemical abortion drug mifepristone that the Biden administration eliminated. The states have argued their interest in protecting citizens against the adverse health consequences of the drug,” he wrote. “The Biden administration allowed mifepristone to be delivered via mail and without any medical supervision whatsoever. Missouri’s litigation aims to reverse that policy and protect women.”
The Biden administration’s stance, now supported by Trump, poses a “grave threat” to the health and safety of women, Hawley said and added, “I strongly urge you to reconsider the Justice Department’s defense of this policy in court.”
New report highlights dangers
Earlier this month a report by the Ethics and Public Policy Center found mifepristone to be far more dangerous than FDA claims that serious adverse events occurred in “less than 0.5 percent” of cases as stated on the drug’s label.
The reality is that almost 11 percent – 10.93 percent of users – experienced sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging or another serious event within 45 days following a mifepristone abortion, according to the report.
The survey is the largest-known study of the abortion pill and is based on analysis of information from an all-payer insurance claims database that includes 865,727 prescribed mifepristone abortions from 2017-2023.
By comparison, FDA studies rely on the results of only 10 clinical trials with a total of 30,966 participants, according to the survey.
“It shows that the drug is not safe, and that is why, since it has been available in this country, it has always come with safety protocols. Doctors have to prescribe it. Doctors have to administer it. They have to be available to their patients to help them in the event of a serious health complication. Biden got rid of all that,” Hawley said.
Trump’s FDA could restore those protections immediately, Hawley said.
“In light of this new data that we have, it is absolutely necessary, it’s vital that they do this ASAP," he said.
