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CV NEWS FEED // Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has taken several steps in the past few weeks to protect women from the abortion drug mifepristone in light of a recent study that found that one in 10 women who take mifepristone experience serious health effects.
Most recently, Hawley discussed the Ethics and Public Policy Center study’s findings May 14 with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who promised the senator he would review the data. Hawley also called for the FDA to regulate mifepristone immediately after the study’s April 28 publication and introduced legislation May 6 to reinstate safeguards on the use and distribution of mifepristone.
In a news release, Hawley stated that the “Restoring Safeguards for Dangerous Abortion Drugs Act” is a measure to protect women from the dangers of mifepristone.
“The FDA needs to act to protect women now,” he stated.
According to the release, the act would reinstate FDA safeguards for the drug that the Obama and Biden administrations removed, allow women whose health was affected by the drug to sue telehealth providers or others who illegally mail the drug, and ban other countries from mailing mifepristone into the US.
In a May 14 press release, national pro-life organization Students for Life Action (SFLAction) announced its support for the Act, stating that the legislation “has the potential to curtail the dangerous and often illegal trafficking of Chemical Abortion Pills throughout the U.S.”
According to the Guttmacher Institute, chemical abortions now make up 63% of all abortions. SFLAction noted, “Any bill to limit the use of these pills will protect not only preborn babies but also women.”
CatholicVote previously reported that the Ethics and Public Policy Center mifepristone study discovered that the actual rate of serious health effects is 22 times higher than shown on the drug’s FDA-approved label.
According to the study, “10.93 percent of women experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days following a mifepristone abortion.”
Hawley sent a letter the same day as the study’s publication to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, in which he pointed out that the data demonstrate a need for action.
“You have stated publicly: ‘If the data suggests something or tells us that there’s a real signal, we can’t promise we’re not going to act on that data,’” Hawley reportedly told Makary. “The time to act is now. It is time to revisit and restore the FDA’s longstanding safety measures governing mifepristone.”
Hawley took another step to protect women from mifepristone this week when he secured a commitment from Kennedy that he would review the new data on the abortion drug.
CatholicVote reported that Kennedy called the study “alarming,” adding that it “indicates at the very least the [FDA] label should be changed.”
Kennedy added, “I’ve asked Marty Makary, who’s the director of the FDA, to do a complete review and to report back.”
