Senator Hawley Gains GOP Support for Bill Revoking FDA Approval of Abortion Pill Mifepristone

This bill would eliminate the most common method of abortion in the United States. Mifepristone accounts for more than half of all abortions nationally. If enacted, pregnant people seeking medication abortion would lose access entirely, forcing them to either seek surgical procedures—which are unavailable or severely restricted in many states—or carry pregnancies to term. This represents a fundamental shift in reproductive healthcare access nationwide.

Pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies that manufacture, distribute, or dispense mifepristone would lose this product line entirely. The manufacturer of Mifeprex (Danco Laboratories) would face an existential business threat. Additionally, the new federal tort provision exposes manufacturers to open-ended lawsuits for physical and emotional harm, creating massive legal liability even for past sales.

While the bill targets mifepristone's abortion indication, the drug is also used off-label for conditions like Cushing's syndrome and certain tumors. Though the bill specifically withdraws approval for the pregnancy termination indication, the chilling effect on manufacturers and the broad tort liability could reduce overall availability and willingness to produce the drug, potentially affecting patients who use it for other medical conditions.

Transgender men and nonbinary people who can become pregnant would lose access to medication abortion just like cisgender women. Broader reproductive rights advocates view bills like this as part of a pattern of legislation that restricts bodily autonomy, which disproportionately concerns LGBTQ communities who have historically faced government regulation of their healthcare decisions.