Anti-abortion advocates are puting pressure on the Trump administration ahead of the 2026 midterm elections to curtail online access to the abortion pill mifepristone despite efforts from the new Food and Drug Administration chief to appease conservative voters.After more than a year of tension between the Trump administration and anti-abortion Republicans, FDA officials confirmed last week that the agency is conducting a real-world safety study of mifepristone that takes into account data from online sales of the pill for at-home abortions.Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Marty Makary, President Donald Trump’s first FDA commissioner, promised the Senate during their respective confirmation hearings to conduct a robust study of mifepristone following the Biden-era changes to the safety requirements that did away with longstanding in-person screening requirements to get the pills.
Anti-abortion advocates first began calling for a comprehensive safety study for mifepristone following a report using insurance claims data from the Ethics and Public Policy Center last spring that found roughly 11% of women suffered serious adverse events following at-home abortions.
