The Big Story 

Anti-abortion advocates aren’t satisfied with how the Trump administration is conducting its safety review of the abortion pill mifepristone. 

© Photo credit

Students for Life of America (SFLA) President Kristan Hawkins is sending letters to the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Environmental Protection Agency.  

In drafts shown exclusively to The Hill, Hawkins warned officials that the review will fail unless federal regulators conduct their own research and don’t look to previous studies, which have repeatedly found the drug to be safe and effective when taken as prescribed.  

“Even if you wanted to accept past studies, Chemical Abortion Pills today are distributed on an unprecedent scale that conservatively results in more than 50 tons of chemically tainted blood, placenta tissue, and human remains being flushed into America’s waterways each year,” wrote Hawkins. 

She asked to know who at the agencies will be conducting the review. 

“Deep state agendas will likely taint the outcomes,” Hawkins warned. 

The push follows a letter to red state attorneys general from top health officials promising a safety review of mifepristone, which has been on the market for 25 years. 

In letters to Republicans attorneys general last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the agency would be reviewing mifepristone due to “recent studies raising concerns about the safety of mifepristone as currently administered.” 

During the 2024 presidential campaign, the organization discussed two main issues with Trump officials; ending federal funding for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers, and ending support and distribution of mifepristone. 

Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, we’re Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.

Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Essential Reads 

How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond:

Trump delays threatened 100 percent tariffs on drugs

Federal judge keeps alive red state lawsuit against mifepristone

Ocasio-Cortez on shutdown: ‘They want us to blink first’

On Our Radar 

Upcoming news themes and events we’re watching:

In Other News 

Branch out with a different read:

Health insurance costs for 22 million in limbo as shutdown begins

As the first government shutdown since 2019 begins, GOP leaders insist any talk of extending COVID-era enhanced subsidies for ObamaCare plans won’t happen until at least mid-November. “We are not going to be held hostage for over $1 trillion in new spending on a continuing resolution,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Tuesday.  But insurance experts agree: If Republicans have their way, millions of …

Around the Nation 

Local and state headlines on health care:

What We’re Reading 

Health news we’ve flagged from other outlets:

What People Think 

Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill: