Report: FDA Commissioner Says ‘No Plans’ to Pull Abortion Drugs

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Martin Makary said on Thursday he has “no plans to take action” to restrict the availability of mifepristone, the first drug used in a two-drug medication abortion regimen.

Makary made the remark on Thursday while speaking at the Semafor World Economy Summit, the outlet reported. 

“Speaking at the Semafor World Economy Summit, Makary took a firmer stance on the issue than he did in his Senate confirmation hearing last month, when he said he would ‘do a review of the data’ and didn’t commit to specific action — leading some to wonder whether the Donald Trump administration would ultimately move to roll back access to the pill,” the report states. 

Makary did say there is a possibility the FDA could take action if data reveal dangers of the drug.

“There is an ongoing set of data that is coming into the FDA on mifepristone,” he said. “So 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.”

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) — whose wife argued a Supreme Court case against mifepristone — responded to Makary’s comments, calling them “exceptionally disappointing to say the least.” 

“Not a good beginning at the FDA.” 

During HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearing, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) asked him about his approach to mifepristone and noted how the FDA stopped requiring the reporting of all complications related to abortion drugs in 2016, with the exception of deaths. Lankford also pointed out how the FDA under Biden allowed abortion pills to be prescribed over telehealth and sent via mail, potentially putting women who have undiagnosed ectopic pregnancies and other complications at risk.

RELATED – Report: Abortion Drugs Used in 63% of U.S. Abortions in 2023
Lankford asked:

My question to you is, will FDA move to be able to actually give transparency to the American people and to say [mifepristone] is no different than any other drug? [That] we are not going to protect it just because [abortion] is political for some folks? People should know side effects of this drug and there should be reporting.

“It’s against everything we believe in this country that patients or doctors should not be reporting adverse events,” Kennedy replied. “We need to know what adverse events are. We need to understand the safety of every drug — mifepristone and every other drug. President Trump has made it clear to me that this is one of the things he has not taken a position yet on, a detailed position, but he’s made it clear to me that he wants me to look at safety issues, and I’ll ask NIH and FDA to do that.”

In a medication abortion, mifepristone blocks the action of progesterone, which the mother’s body produces to nourish the pregnancy. When progesterone is blocked, the lining of the mother’s uterus deteriorates, and blood and nourishment are cut off to the developing baby, who then dies inside the mother’s womb. The drug misoprostol (also called Cytotec) then causes contractions and bleeding to expel the baby from the mother’s uterus.

Medication abortions notably accounted for 63 percent of all abortions in the United States in 2023, up from 53 percent in 2020, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute.

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.