‘Mr. President, it’s now time’: Social conservatives beg Trump for abortion pill crackdown

By Tierney Sneed, Sarah Owermohle, CNN

(CNN) — As thousands of protestors demonstrate in Washington, DC, at Friday’s annual March for Life, the Trump administration faces a deadline to explain why it opposes a lawsuit that would achieve a key goal of its allies in the anti-abortion movement by ending the availability of abortion pills by mail.

The lawsuit, brought by Louisiana against the President Donald Trump-appointed health officials, is one of several pressure points the anti-abortion movement is pressing to push the administration to limit access to medication abortion, which now accounts for roughly two-thirds of all abortions in the United States.

“We’re at a point where, from a lot of the pro-life movement’s perspective, this is too important to play political games with,” Katie Glenn Daniel, the director of legal affairs for SBA Pro-Life America, told CNN. “They could pull these drugs out of the mail tomorrow. The justification is more than there.”

While Trump has erected some hurdles to abortion in his second term, his administration has not reversed regulatory rules that have allowed abortion pills to be sent by the mail. That policy, enacted under President Joe Biden, has made it possible for women within states that limit of ban abortion to obtain the two-step drug regimen used to terminate a pregnancy.

Trump health officials promised to look at the drug’s safety data, but they have been noncommittal about when that would happen, or if they would ultimately reverse the Biden-era changes.

“Where we are is that that the Trump administration has managed not to say anything,” said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at UC-Davis and author of several books about the anti-abortion movement. “It seems pretty clear politically that all the steps that Republicans and abortion opponents are taking aren’t really moving the administration.”

Anger within the anti-abortion community over the lack of action has reached a fever pitch and is manifesting in lawsuits, congressional hearings and calls for the firing of a top Trump appointee.

“We can simply fix this if we have the courage to do it,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and staunch Trump ally, said last week. “So, what all of us are telling the administration: ‘you’ve been a very pro-life president, Mr. President, it’s now time to deal with this issue.’”

The White House, which did not respond to CNN’s inquiry, is this week announcing new anti-abortion measures related to federal funding, including an expansion of a policy that bars foreign aid to groups that promote abortion. But SBA-List said that addressing abortion drugs was an “urgent” issue the administration must act on.

“If there are those that don’t care about the life issue, they should care about the politics of this,” said Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council. “This is going to be a political problem for those who have sold out the pro-life movement.”

Ire directed at Trump health officials

At a Senate hearing last week that aired GOP grievances about how medication abortion was reaching states that had banned the procedure, Republicans made clear that they had lost patience with the administration.

“Republican members of this committee and many other senators expect an answer,” said Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, the chair of the committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. “At an absolute minimum, the previous in-person safeguards should be restored and that should be done immediately.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr said in a September letter to Republican attorneys general that he had ordered drug regulators to “review the latest data” on mifepristone’s risks and safety. But Kennedy and agency spokespeople did not say when the review began or how long it would take.

Abortion advocates and mifepristone manufacturers say that years of data show the drug is overwhelmingly safe and has fewer reported side effects than Viagra or penicillin. Mifepristone is also safer than procedural abortions, which are banned or heavily restricted in more than a dozen states.

The Food and Drug Administration also approved a generic version of the abortion pill last fall, further infuriating conservative leaders. Graham led a letter with nearly all of the Senate GOP caucus demanding that the FDA revoke access to the drug while it conducts the review.

“It’s not even that things are paused where they were the day the president came into office. They are worse because there is another generic now on the market,” said Daniel of SBA Pro-Life America.

Trump has checked some boxes off the anti-abortion movement’s wish list, by reversing federal guidance requiring hospitals provide abortions in medical emergencies, restricting Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, and barring abortion at Veterans Affairs facilities.

And without the justices appointed by Trump in his first term, the Supreme Court would not have overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, a monumental victory for the anti-abortion movement that ended national protections for abortion access and allowed states to ban the procedure.

To their dismay, however, the number of abortions has gone up since that court decision, with the provision of abortion pills by mail driving the increase.

The FDA has not made any changes to the rules around medication abortion and neither Secretary Kennedy, nor FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, have testified before congressional committees in recent months. Makary, who has faced calls from anti-abortion groups that he be fired, also made comments to a conservative outlet in December suggesting that the mifepristone review was still in an early phase.

“I hope the rumors are false, some of them are in print, that the agency is intentionally slow walking its study on mifepristone’s health risks. I really hope that that’s not the case,” Sen. Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican, said at last week’s hearing.

In a statement, HHS denied that the review was being slow-walked for political reasons, and it said that the “FDA’s scientific review process is thorough and takes the time necessary to ensure decisions are grounded in gold-standard science.”

Facing indifference from the administration, last week’s Senate hearing showcased the case the anti-abortion movement is now making about the current medication abortion rules, framing the pervasiveness of abortion-by-mail as a public health danger. The testimony of GOP witnesses highlighted accusations that women were being coerced to take the drugs and were allegedly facing increased health risks by not having an in-person visit with a doctor first.

“This is basically setting a stage to demand a different reaction from the Trump administration,” said Rachel Rebouché, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law who specializes in reproductive health law.

Court fights that could force Trump’s hand

While their counterparts in Congress hold hearings and press conferences, anti-abortion state officials are going to court to force changes to access to medication abortion.

Six states are currently suing the FDA over its rules for the drug. Missouri, Kansas and Idaho are carrying forward a case, originally brought under the Biden administration by anti-abortion doctors and medical organizations, that seeks to reverse several FDA moves that made medication abortion easier to obtain.

A separate case, brought by Florida and Texas, is trying to reverse the 2000 approval of mifepristone as well, effectively banning medication abortion.

The Louisiana lawsuit is not challenging the underlying approval of mifepristone, focusing on FDA’s rules around the drug instead, but it’s taken a more aggressive approach in the litigation. The state has asked for a preliminary order that would immediately end the provision of abortion pills by mail while the lawsuit plays out.

Its filing cited specifically the reports that the FDA was moving on a slow track to complete the review of the drug.

“There should be no reason why they shouldn’t just simply agree or take their own action,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill told CNN. “If they want to moot my lawsuit or any of our concerns about this… they should just do what they said.”

The Trump administration must file its brief opposing Louisiana’s emergency request by Monday, and the judge will hold a hearing on the matter in late February.

The legal cases are a more effective tool to force Trump’s hand than the political pressure, said Zeigler, because the administration can’t avoid taking a position in court.

“Court decisions are not within the administration’s control in the same way these political decisions are, which means there’s a lot more unpredictability there,” Ziegler said.

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