Trump's FDA Pick Drops Critical Hint On Abortion Pills
3.7.25
Click to skip ahead: Attacks on Abortion Pills dissects the comments on abortion medication from Trump’s FDA pick. Maternal Mortality Cover Up asks why Georgia won’t say who is on their maternal mortality review committee. In the States has news on Arizona, Wyoming, South Carolina and more. Attacks on Democracy reports that Florida wants to make it harder to pass ballot measures. In the Nation, some quick hits.
Attacks on Abortion Pills
You all know that conservatives’ number one anti-abortion priority is doing away with abortion pills. The medication—and telehealth, specifically—has made it possible for many patients in anti-choice states to end their pregnancies in spite of state laws. (Right now, about 1 in 5 abortions in the country are done via telehealth.) This infuriates Republicans, who are desperate both to make the pills impossible and to punish the providers shipping the medication.
So it comes as no surprise that Donald Trump’s pick to head up the FDA, Marty Makary, was seemingly elusive when asked about abortion medication during his confirmation hearing yesterday. But if you’re familiar with anti-abortion messaging —and know how to read between the lines—Makary’s position was crystal clear.
The doctor/author repeated RFK Jr’s talking points about “studying” the pills, even though there have been literally over a hundred studies showing that abortion medication is safe and effective. “I will do a review of the data,” Makary said. “I have no preconceived plans to make changes to the mifepristone policy.”
But there was one answer from Makary that painted a much clearer (and more chilling) picture of what he’d do as head of the FDA:
“I know personally of OB doctors who prefer, to insist, even though they have the option to prescribe otherwise, but they choose to insist that mifepristone be taken when necessary in their office as they observe the person taking. I think their concern there is that if this drug is used in the wrong hands, it could be used for coercion.” (Emphasis mine)
And there it is, anti-abortion activists’ favorite word of 2025: Coercion. Claiming that women are being coerced into ending their pregnancies is a great way to ban abortion while pretending to give a shit about what women want. Conservatives started to float the talking point in earnest back in 2023, when leading anti-abortion activists identified ‘coercion’ as the GOP’s most promising talking point because “no one is openly in favor of coerced abortions.”
Since then, we’ve seen it used everywhere—most notably in the case against Dr. Maggie Carpenter, a New York abortion provider indicted by Louisiana for (legally!) shipping abortion medication to a patient there.
Makary dropping ‘coercion,’ along with a line about doctors wanting to see patients in-person before prescribing the pills, is a good indication that he’ll restore the FDA’s pre-2016 rules for mifepristone. Those guidelines would only allow abortion medication to be prescribed during an in-person visit, limit its use to up to 7 weeks of pregnancy instead of 10, and restrict prescriptions to doctors (as opposed to other providers like nurse practitioners or physician assistants).
And that’s just what Makary said at the hearing! Trump’s FDA pick has a history of making false statements about abortion—like claiming fetuses feel pain and “resist the instruments of abortion.” He also bemoaned that health care professionals “can get fired” if they don’t support “abortion right up until the third trimester.”
So yeah, we know exactly who he is.
For more on Republicans’ plan for abortion medication, read Abortion, Every Day’s explainer on the most recent lawsuit brought by three Republican attorneys general:
Maternal Mortality Cover Up
In a move that is about as transparent as it gets, Georgia is refusing to release the names of the people on its newly-formed maternal mortality review committee. A department of health spokesperson told ProPublica that the names of the members are covered by “confidentiality protections”—a seemingly-new rule that didn’t exist back when the publication covered the committee in August.
What’s changed since then? Well, ProPublica reported on the deaths of two women—Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, who were killed by Georgia’s abortion ban. You’d think when those stories broke that the state’s maternal mortality committee would be more important than ever. But no—instead, Republicans fired every single one of the 32 committee members.
Since Roe was overturned, this kind of brazen attack on data and accountability has become par for the course. In fact, one of the anti-abortion movement’s most chilling tactics is their attack on maternal mortality review committees.
These boards, which are meant to analyze a state’s maternal death rates and causes, really have become ground zero for conservatives’ efforts to hide just how many women their abortion bans are killing.
In addition to the dismissal of Georgia’s entire maternal mortality committee, we’ve watched Idaho disband their maternal mortality committee, and Texas announce that their committee wouldn’t report on maternal deaths in 2022 and 2023—the two years after the state passed an abortion ban.
But it doesn’t end there: Texas also placed Ingrid Skop on their committee—one of the country’s most well-known anti-abortion activists. Skop is perhaps the most egregious pick you could imagine for a committee like this: She believes that maternal mortality numbers are undercounting the number of deaths due to abortions, and has even argued that maternal death statistics should include women who die by suicide after having an abortion. (Even when there is no established link.)
Skop also believes that abortion is never necessary to save someone’s life, and thinks women with life-threatening pregnancies should be treated with c-sections instead of abortions—even before the fetus is viable.
So when Georgia refuses to release the names of who is on their newly-formed maternal mortality committee, you can imagine where my mind goes. I’ll keep you updated on this as I find out more.
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In the States
Let’s talk about Arizona, where a judge has struck down the state’s 15-week abortion ban. Judge Frank Moskowitz ruled that the state is “permanently and forever enjoined and restrained from implementing, enforcing, or giving any effect” to the law.
The ruling comes after voters overwhelmingly passed pro-choice ballot measure Proposition 139. The new amendment codified abortion rights in the state constitution until ‘viability,’ and at any point if a doctor deems it necessary for a patient’s physical or mental health. Dr. Misha Pangasa, a physician at Planned Parenthood Arizona, called it “a huge moment for Arizonans.”
Attorney General Kris Mayes said the decision reaffirms that “the right to make personal medical decisions belongs to individuals, not politicians.” You may remember that Mayes and Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs pissed off conservatives in a big way over abortion rights: Hobbs granted AG Mayes with the authority to prosecute abortion cases, taking that ability away from district attorneys. It was essentially a way to ensure that no one was prosecuted for abortion ‘crimes’.
Arizona’s abortion laws came under national scrutiny last year when the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of an 1864 abortion ban—a law adopted before women had the right to vote. The backlash was so fierce that some Republicans voted alongside Democrats to repeal the law, lest they face voters’ ire on election day.
All of which is to say, the state’s pro-choice advocates have been through a lot. Even though Arizona’s 15-week ban has been repealed, later abortion patients still face hurdles because of the state’s ‘viability’ limit, while other restrictions target the most vulnerable.
In a statement, the Arizona Proactive Reproductive Justice Alliance says, “the legal right on paper means little for the most marginalized communities who cannot afford to navigate the dozens of restrictions still in place.”
“For people with low-incomes, those who live in rural areas, young people, and so many others targeted by racist and discriminatory policies, abortion remains effectively banned.”
Apparently Wyoming Republicans have nothing better to do than to pass anti-abortion legislation. Legislators have overridden Gov. Mark Gordon’s veto of legislation that will mandate abortion medication patients have medically-unnecessary transvaginal ultrasounds.
Seriously: even the Republican governor thought that the law was too invasive! But the Wyoming GOP is just that desperate to get up in women’s business. Literally.
Christine Lichtenfels, executive director of Chelsea’s Fund, said, “We are saddened so many legislators lack empathy for women seeking abortion care and fundamental respect for women’s decision-making ability.”
Finally, South Carolina continues to vie for the worst of the worst. A new bill proposed by Republicans would amend the state code to declare that life begins at conception. As I reported yesterday, South Carolina Republicans also introduced legislation that would ban doctors from calling miscarriage treatment ‘abortion’—even when it is. It’s the kind of attack on language we need to pay very close attention to:
Also in South Carolina, the CEO of the Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network writes in the Post and Courier about the ”catastrophic cost” if the legislature were to advance Republicans’ total abortion ban:
“The truth is, this ban is not about protecting anyone — it is about control. It is about stripping away the rights of individuals to make their own private medical decisions. South Carolinians deserve the freedom to decide what is best for themselves, their families and their futures.”
Quick hits:
A Kentucky medical student writes about grappling with the choice of whether to stay in her home state or “leave Kentucky to pursue an education that ensures I can become the ob/gyn I aspire to be.”
Over at the Missouri Independent, activist Bonyen Lee-Gilmore explains why Missouri’s ‘born alive’ legislation is worse than you think.
And a reminder that beginning next year, abortion care will be covered in Colorado’s employee health plans and under publicly funded insurance.
“Protections mean nothing without support in our ability to access them. Legal protections don’t mean anything if you don’t have money in your bank account or gas in your tank, or if you can’t afford to pay for a babysitter while you go to the clinic.”
-Megan Jeyifo, executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund, which went from spending $300k to support patients in 2020 to $5 million last year
Attacks on Democracy
We knew this was coming: A new Republican bill would make it harder for citizen-led initiatives to get on the ballot in Florida. Amendment 4 was way too close for comfort for Republicans—the pro-choice ballot measure got 57% of the vote and lost because of the 60% threshold for amending the state constitution.
That large majority of support came in spite of unprecedented attacks on democracy. Gov. Ron DeSantis launched a full-scale assault against the pro-choice amendment, using millions in taxpayer dollars, and flouting the law that prohibits the governor from using the power of his office to influence the outcome of an election. The Florida Republican weaponized state agencies to run a disinformation campaign against the amendment, threatening television stations with criminal charges for running ads for the measure, and even started a bogus ‘voter fraud’ investigation—sending cops to the homes of people who signed the petition.
Now, Republicans are pushing through SPB 7016 and HB 1205 under the guise of election integrity—claiming that the legislation will “increase transparency and accountability.”
In reality, it would just make it impossible for voters to have a direct say on issues they care about. For example, volunteer signature gatherers for petitions would have to register with the state; and Republicans would require a new onerous process to approve a financial impact statement—a move that’s actually about delaying signature-gathering efforts.
I’m confident it won’t end there. Just this past January, DeSantis proposed a series of new rules to gut the ballot initiative process, including eliminating petition gatherers entirely. (Under his plan, Floridians would have to go in person to their local Supervisor of Elections (SOE) office to sign a petition—or navigate an onerous, multi-step mail-in process.)
The short version? They know voters support abortion rights, and they want to make sure that they don’t ever get a say.
In the Nation
The Washington Post on the Trump administration dropping the emergency abortion case against Idaho;
The UNFPA explains the devastating consequences of the Trump administration’s funding cuts
Yes Magazine calls for moving beyond ‘restoring Roe.”
And Agence France-Presse on the coming interstate battle over abortion medication.
They're awfully worried about potential "coercion" when it comes to abortion, but all forms of sexual assault leave them unconcerned.
Rest up Jessica have a great event!! We need more news coverage so any and all public events you can force onto the stage, the better off we will be!!