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ICYMI: Anti-Abortion Groups Mount Increasing Pressure on Trump to Further Restrict Abortion Access
ICYMI: Anti-Abortion Groups Mount Increasing Pressure on Trump to Further Restrict Abortion Access
According to new reporting from Politico, anti-abortion groups are ramping up pressure on the Trump administration after the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. FDA temporarily restored access to mifepristone. The Court’s ruling keeps mifepristone available by mail and retail pharmacies for now as the case moves back through the lower court, frustrating anti-abortion groups that want the administration to take more aggressive action to restrict access.
In the lead-up to the decision, White House and Department of Justice (DOJ) officials reportedly held private meetings with anti-abortion leaders urging the administration to refocus efforts on limiting access to mifepristone and defunding Planned Parenthood. These groups have also become increasingly frustrated that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not used its authority to ban mifepristone outright, nationwide. Within hours of the ruling and the meetings, FDA Commissioner Martin Makary stepped down from his position.
According to Politico, “Students for Life emerged from its own meeting with DOJ officials optimistic, and sent a video message to its followers that the agency is actively discussing whether and how to use the Comstock Act — a long dormant but never repealed law that
prohibits the mailing of any drug or instrument used for abortion — to cut off access to abortion nationwide.”
The Comstock Act is a 150-year-old law, passed before women could even vote, that aimed to ban the mailing of anything “indecent” or “lewd.” Project 2025 lays out a plan to willfully misinterpret and misuse the antiquated law to block access to both abortion pills and medical equipment used for abortion care—effectively banning abortion nationwide, even in states where abortion is protected.
Anti-abortion organizations are also publicly criticizing the administration for what they see as inaction on restricting access to abortion care and permanently defunding Planned Parenthood. As Politico reported, “Though staunch abortion opponents hold positions at several key agencies and in Congress, they appear to have little decision-making power in an administration where power is concentrated in the Oval Office. And Trump, who became their champion by helping to overturn in his first term, has repeatedly disappointed them in his second.”
These rising tensions in the anti-abortion ecosphere make it clear that overturning Roe v. Wade was not the endpoint. Anti-abortion extremists were never going to be satisfied with “leaving abortion to the states.” Despite the sweeping damage Trump has already inflicted on reproductive freedom nationwide, the self-proclaimed “most pro-life president in history” still isn’t extreme enough for them. Their sights are now set on restricting telehealth access to mifepristone and targeting federal funding for reproductive health care providers—and they expect Trump and his allies to make that a reality: ‘’Our patience has run out,’ Kristi Hamrick, who leads federal policy with Students for Life of America told POLITICO. ‘The pro-life movement, like many other parts of the [Republican] coalition, made an investment in Donald Trump. We want a return on that investment.’”
Meanwhile, attacks on mifepristone are moving through the courts and through Congress, including Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) bill that would revoke FDA approval of mifepristone and make it illegal to distribute nationwide.
The growing rift between Trump and the groups he has spent years pandering to underscores how aggressively the anti-abortion movement has increased its efforts to put pressure on federal agencies and Trump directly to ban abortion nationwide. These groups will continue pursuing nationwide restrictions through the courts, Congress, and federal agencies—and they will not be satisfied until access to medication abortion has been cut off in all 50 states.
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For over 55 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.
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