Top anti-abortion activists called for the leader of the Food and Drug Administration to be fired on Tuesday after reports indicated that he is putting off a long-awaited safety review of the abortion pill mifepristone until after the 2026 midterm elections.
Marjorie Dannefelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and Lila Rose, president of the anti-abortion group Live Action, said separately on X Tuesday that FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary should be fired after Bloomberg reported with anonymous sources that he is delaying a safety review of the controversial abortion pill.
Makary and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised congressional Republicans during their confirmation hearings that the Trump administration would undertake a comprehensive safety review of mifepristone following a bombshell report earlier this year that found a complication rate for the pill that is 22 times higher than what is on the FDA’s label for the drug.
In April, the anti-abortion think tank Ethics and Public Policy Center published a review of health insurance claims that found about an 11% complication rate within 45 days of a mifepristone prescription, including life-threatening complications such as sepsis and hemorrhaging.
Anti-abortion advocates and certain congressional Republicans have pressed for the administration to reinstitute pre-COVID-19-era restrictions on mifepristone by requiring in-person screening and dispensing of the abortifacient.
No longer requiring in-person dispensing has enabled healthcare providers to sell the pills virtually and across state lines, even in states that have put restrictions on abortion since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. It has also allowed for several reported cases of abortion coercion, in which romantic partners or family members have forced pregnant women to take abortion pills without their consent.
But people familiar with the internal workings at the FDA told Bloomberg on Monday that Makary is intentionally delaying a safety review of mifepristone in the hopes of not allowing the midterm elections to become a referendum on abortion.
Dannenfelser, who previously celebrated Makary for committing to the safety review, responded to the report of the agency slow-walking the review on Tuesday, saying, “Enough is enough.”
“FDA is doing NOTHING while every day abortion drugs take the lives of children, put women & girls at serious risk, empower abusers, & trample state pro-life laws,” Dannenfelser said. “Reinstate in-person dispensing NOW & do a real study NOW.”
Rose similarly said that Makary should be fired if he “will not act as head of the FDA to protect children and mothers.”
“Under his watch abortion pills kill preborn children and endanger women and the study he promised is nowhere to be found,” said Rose.
Before the government shutdown this fall, congressional Republicans expressed concerns about the timeline of the safety review after the agency approved a second generic version of the abortion pill in October.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told the Washington Examiner at the time that he felt misled by Makary during his confirmation hearing about his commitment to reviewing mifepristone, which he said was contradicted by the agency’s approval of the new medication.
Andrew Nixon, HHS’s chief spokesman, told the outlet on Monday that claims that the FDA is delaying the review for political purposes are “baseless.”
When asked about the anonymous sources relied upon in the initial report, SBA Pro-Life communications director Kelsey Pritchard told the Washington Examiner that the report “aligns with everything that we know and the lack of response we received.”
“We’ve tried several times to get the attention of people throughout the administration, and we haven’t seen the results. We haven’t seen anyone confirm the study. We haven’t seen the FDA give an adequate response to when they approved the generic version of mifepristone,” Pritchard said.
HHS press secretary Emily Hilliard told the Washington Examiner Monday evening that the agency’s comprehensive reviews take time to produce quality results.
“The FDA’s comprehensive scientific reviews take the time necessary to get the science right, and that’s what Dr. Makary is ensuring,” Hilliard said.
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Neither HHS nor the White House responded to requests for comment on Dannenfelser’s call to action.
“Whether they actually fire him, or whether they use this as, ‘OK, we actually need to take this seriously and do something,’ the fact is that they have been silent. They haven’t done anything. That is unacceptable to Pro-life America,” Pritchard said.
Mabinty Quarshie contributed to this report.
