EXCLUSIVE: The fight for life is also a fight for women’s health and safety, Hawley says 

The fight for life in the 21st century hinges on restricting the use of mifepristone for chemical abortions, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, told The Lion in an exclusive interview Thursday. 

“The fight for life is the fight to stop mifepristone from turning every mailbox in America into a Planned Parenthood,” Hawley said. “We need every Republican member of Congress who says they’re pro-life to show right now by signing on to this and saying, ‘We are going to stop the abortion drug.’”

Hawley introduced a bill Wednesday that would ban the use of mifepristone for abortion because of the drug’s data-proven risks to women, 11% of whom suffer infection, hemorrhaging, and sepsis after taking it. The Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act would also give women harmed by the drug the right to seek compensation.

“We ought to give every woman who has been harmed by the drug the right to sue the drug manufacturers, including the ones in the Cayman Islands who won’t even consent to process in American court,” Hawley said, referencing the drug manufacturers, whose sole purpose is to profit from the mail distribution of mifepristone. “These people ought to be held accountable and victims ought to get their day in court.”

In 2023, the Food and Drug Administration, under the Biden administration, abolished the required in-person doctor’s appointment for the prescription of mifepristone, effectively allowing the drug to be shipped to any state, regardless of state pro-life laws. Louisiana is currently suing the FDA over its failure to protect pro-life states under these open floodgates, and Hawley’s wife, Erin, is representing Louisiana with Alliance Defending Freedom.

“Congress created the FDA. We passed its organizing statute. We have oversight of the FDA,” Hawley said. “Congress absolutely has the authority, by law, to say, ‘We’re going to ban this drug for use in abortions.’ We should do that. It is the right thing to do to protect the health and safety of women.”

Since the Supreme Court returned the abortion decision to the states in 2022, the number of 18- to 24-year-olds who have ordered mifepristone by mail has increased nearly 66%, according to a recent study. In states with stricter abortion bans, this number has risen by more than 300%, The Lion previously reported.

“Seventy percent of abortions in the United States are caused by mifepristone, and that number goes up every year,” Hawley said. “There are more abortions now than there were when Roe v. Wade was still the law of the land.”

The Trump administration has admitted that the FDA’s actions under Biden were unlawful and has promised to conduct a review of mifepristone’s safety, though it could take years, Hawley said.

“I don’t think that the FDA is going to be able to put safety restrictions back into place,” he said. “Number one, it takes an enormous amount of time and litigation. Number two, what we’ve seen over and over again is liberal administrations come in and get rid of all the safety protocols.”

Hawley explained that when mifepristone was first introduced in 2000, the drug required an in-person doctor’s visit, screening, in-person dispensing, and a follow-up appointment – “all to protect a woman’s health.” None of these protections remain today after the FDA under both the Obama and Biden administrations “gutted all of the safety restrictions because they want abortion on demand,” he said.

“Congress should step in here and create a permanent rule that this drug is unsafe when it’s used for abortion,” Hawley said.

Mifepristone’s dangers only increase without doctor consultation

New data released this week shows that the risk of serious adverse events for women after taking mifepristone significantly increased following the removal of the in-person doctor’s visit, according to the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Before the Biden FDA removed the in-person requirement, 10.15% of women experienced serious adverse events, including hemorrhaging and sepsis. Afterward, 11.5% of women suffer such “side effects” – a 13% increase, according to EPPC.

Additionally, prescribing mifepristone to a woman with an ectopic pregnancy – where the embryo implants outside the uterus – “can be deadly,” and these misguided prescriptions increased by 52%, according to EPPC’s press release.

“Do not play politics with women’s lives,” EPPC President Ryan Anderson told The Daily Signal. “Every day you delay the return of the in-person doctor visit requirement is a day when more women are placed at risk. Women deserve better.”

EPPC’s analysis revisits a report from last spring, which found the dangers of mifepristone are nearly 22 times greater than what the FDA currently advertises.

“We removed Vioxx from the market, an old anti-inflammatory drug, because it caused life-threatening conditions in .001% of cases. This is 11%. It’s astounding,” Hawley said.

Americans want mifepristone regulated

More than 70% of Americans believe an in-person doctor visit should be required to prescribe mifepristone, The Lion previously reported. Additionally, more than 30% of Republican voters said they would be “less enthusiastic” to vote in the upcoming midterm elections if “GOP leaders abandon pro-life policies,” according to polling from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

Hawley encouraged voters to ask their representatives to support his Senate bill and the companion legislation Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger, R-Tennessee, will introduce in the House.

“I hope it will receive that support, because so many Americans want safety protocols around drugs for women. There are none for mifepristone,” Hawley said. “This is where the fight for life is in the 21st century. It’s right here.”