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ICYMI: Senator Cassidy Calls for Reinstating Unnecessary In-Person Dispensing Requirements on Mifepristone
ICYMI: Senator Cassidy Calls for Reinstating Unnecessary In-Person Dispensing Requirements on Mifepristone
More proof that anti-abortion politicians never intended to “leave it to the states.” During a Senate Health Committee hearing on Wednesday, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy criticized Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for not rescinding the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) 2023 decision—a decision based on science and evidence—to remove medically unnecessary in-person dispensing requirements on mifepristone. This decision allowed patients to access medication abortion via telehealth and has been a lifeline for people in states with abortion bans and those who are unable to access care in their community.
As Politico reported, Cassidy’s questions were rife with anti-abortion disinformation about mifepristone—even though it has been FDA-approved since 2000, and used safely by over 7.5 million people for over two decades. Cassidy’s inflammatory and baseless claims are the latest attempt by anti-abortion extremists to spread disinformation about a safe and effective medication that is used in the majority of abortion care in the U.S.
Despite Cassidy’s insistence that Kennedy was not doing enough to undermine access to mifepristone, Kennedy has repeatedly used his position as head of HHS to undermine science and advance a coordinated anti-abortion agenda—weaponizing the agency against mifepristone at every turn. Kennedy announced last year that he had ordered the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—led by Martin Makary—to launch a politically motivated review of mifepristone based on a junk science pseudo study.
Cassidy’s call to reinstate medically unnecessary in-person dispensing requirements comes amid three pending court cases that are all aiming to end telehealth access to mifepristone—including Louisiana v. FDA, which was paused at the Trump administration’s request earlier this month as the FDA speeds through its sham review of mifepristone. The case has been appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Cassidy’s line of questioning could be a desperate attempt to get back in the GOP’s good graces ahead of Louisiana’s Republican Primary next month, in which Trump has endorsed his opponent, but it also reveals what Republicans don’t want to admit publicly: their federal anti-abortion agenda did not end with Dobbs, and the American people are not on their side. They know their seats are in jeopardy, they know attacks on mifepristone are unpopular, and they know telehealth has served as a critical access point to medication abortion for people across the country.
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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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