U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has called for a national ban on the abortion drug mifepristone, continuing to put pressure on the Trump administration to finish its long-anticipated review of the drug. Hawley and his wife, Erin, who works for the prominent legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, spoke at the Family Research Council’s Pray Vote Stand Summit last week at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia.
The senator said it's “vital” for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to complete a “safety study” on mifepristone and for Congress to pass a ban on the drug. Pro-life advocates have criticized the Trump administration this year amid a report that the long-anticipated safety review of the abortion drug has been delayed until after the 2026 midterms. “The abortion drug is not safe,” Hawley said.
“It’s not safe for the baby, who it kills almost every single time, and it’s not safe for the mother, because in more than one in 10 cases, the mother who takes that pill is sent to an emergency room with a life-threatening condition.” “And the pharmaceutical companies who make that drug, they lie about it because they make money on more abortions.
The more abortions there are, the more money they make.” Hawley introduced the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act in March, which seeks to revoke the FDA approval for the abortion medication mifepristone. The abortion rate in the U.S. has risen since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, ruling that there is no constitutional right to abortion and allowing state bans against the procedure to go into effect.
Abortion opponents have attributed the rising abortion rate despite the enactment of abortion bans in several states to the increased prevalence of and access to abortion pills. During the Biden administration, the FDA