GOP Attorneys General Urge Trump Administration To Reinstate Abortion Pill Safeguards

More than 20 Republican attorneys general are pressing the Trump administration to restore safety protocols for the abortion drug mifepristone, warning that it poses “serious risks to women” and is far less safe and effective than advertised.

In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, 22 attorneys general called on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin Makary to reinstate the safeguards that were removed under the Obama and Biden administrations. The effort is led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach.

“Recent comprehensive studies of the real-world effects of the chemical abortion drug mifepristone report that serious adverse events occur 22 times more often than stated on the drug’s label, while the drug is less than half as effective as claimed,” the letter states, citing research published earlier this year by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPA).

The EPPA findings suggest that one in ten women who take the pill experience serious complications, including hemorrhage, emergency room visits, and ectopic pregnancies.

The attorneys general urged the FDA to bring back its 2011 Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) rules which required in-person medical oversight, physician involvement, and strict reporting requirements or to withdraw the drug from the market entirely until a full safety review is complete.

“Currently, a woman can obtain a mifepristone abortion with just one telehealth visit, receive the drugs through the mail, and self-administer them,” the letter warns. “The prescriber is only required to report an adverse event if the patient dies.”

Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) has also called for immediate reinstatement of safety guardrails, noting Kennedy’s promise to review the drug’s safety data. Makary has said he would act if evidence shows a clear safety issue.

Mifepristone, used in combination with misoprostol to terminate early pregnancies, was first approved in 2000. While the FDA maintains it is safe following periodic reviews, the Supreme Court last year declined to weigh in on whether easing its rules was lawful leaving the drug widely available even in Democrat-led states with expansive abortion access. According to the Guttmacher Institute, medication abortions accounted for over half of U.S. abortions in 2023.

Republican attorneys general argue that loosening safeguards was politically driven and endangered women’s health. “The FDA’s removal of these crucial safety protocols… begs the question of whether the removal was motivated by considerations other than the safety of patients,” the letter concludes.

With HHS and the FDA now under Trump administration leadership, the pressure is on to decide whether mifepristone’s current distribution model survives the promised review.

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