- The Senate HELP Committee will hold a hearing on Jan. 14 titled "Protecting Women: Exposing the Dangers of Chemical Abortion Drugs" to examine the safety of abortion pills.
- Committee chair Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician and pro-life advocate, says the hearing will focus on women's health and the growing use of medication abortion, now the most common abortion method in the U.S.
- Cassidy and other Republicans oppose Biden-era FDA rules allowing abortion pills to be prescribed via telehealth and shipped by mail, arguing these changes reduce oversight and increase risks.
- More than 51 senators have urged the FDA to reinstate in-person dispensing requirements and release additional safety data, citing concerns about underreported complications and coercion.
- Cassidy and GOP colleagues have demanded updates from the FDA on its review of mifepristone, saying recent approvals of additional generics fail to adequately protect women or address known risks.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 14, examining the safety of abortion pills.
The hearing, titled "Protecting Women: Exposing the Dangers of Chemical Abortion Drugs," was announced by committee chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who said the session will focus on women's health and the broader implications of federal abortion policy. Cassidy, a physician and longtime opponent of abortion, said the hearing is intended to scrutinize the safety of medication abortion, which now accounts for the majority of abortions in the United States.
Medication abortions, as BrightU.AI's Enoch noted, are a method of terminating a pregnancy during the first trimester using two specific medications, mifepristone and misoprostol, which are taken orally. This method has been used by Planned Parenthood clinics and other healthcare providers for over a decade. The process involves the woman taking the first pill, mifepristone, which blocks the hormone progesterone, essential for maintaining the pregnancy, followed by the second pill, misoprostol, which causes uterine contractions and bleeding to expel the pregnancy tissue.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first approved mifepristone in 2000 and, under changes made during the Biden administration, later allowed the drug to be prescribed via telehealth and shipped by mail.
Cassidy has been a vocal critic of those policy changes and has urged the Trump administration to reverse rules allowing mail-order distribution of abortion pills. He has also called for the release of additional safety data on mifepristone, arguing that adverse events may be underreported.
"As a doctor and a strong pro-life conservative, I am committed to protecting mothers and the unborn," Cassidy said. "The medical evidence is clear: chemical abortion drugs not only kill innocent babies but also put women in serious danger."
The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building and will be livestreamed on the committee's website. Details about witnesses have not yet been released.
Cassidy has been pressing the FDA over abortion pill policies
The Senate hearing comes amid mounting pressure from Cassidy and other Republicans on the FDA over its handling of medication abortion regulations.
Cassidy has repeatedly challenged the FDA after the agency approved an additional generic version of mifepristone in September, a move that surprised and angered many pro-life advocates. The FDA also left in place rules allowing abortion pills to be prescribed via telehealth and shipped through the mail, policies first expanded during the Biden administration.
In response to the approval, more than 51 senators signed a letter urging the FDA to reverse course and reinstate the previous requirement that mifepristone be dispensed only in person by a certified health care provider. Lawmakers argued that the in-person requirement provided important medical oversight and helped prevent coercion.
Earlier this year, Cassidy and 16 other Republican senators sent a separate letter to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary asking whether the agency was conducting a safety study on abortion pills and whether it was aware of cases in which women were coerced into taking the drugs or given them without their consent.
"In light of the FDA's approval of another means of chemical abortion under the same flawed REMS framework, it is imperative that you provide an update on your review of mifepristone and your plans to reinstate necessary safeguards. To be clear: this approval fails to mitigate the risks to women that have been identified and fails to protect women from the coercive use of the drug," the senators wrote.
Watch this video that talks about the Supreme Court's decision to restore access to mifepristone.
This video is from the Pool Pharmacy channel on Brighteon.com.
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