Press Release Arizona
Memos & Media Guidance
MEMO: What to Know Ahead of Tomorrow’s GOP-Led Senate Hearing Targeting Mifepristone
TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Reproductive Freedom for All
RE: What to Know Ahead of Tomorrow’s GOP-Led Senate Hearing Targeting Mifepristone
DATE: January 13, 2025
What to Know Ahead of Tomorrow’s GOP-Led Senate Hearing Targeting Mifepristone
Note to press: As you prepare coverage of tomorrow’s Senate HELP Committee hearing and the continued attacks on medication abortion, Reproductive Freedom for All experts are available to comment and provide fact-based context.
Tomorrow, January 14, at 10 a.m. ET, the GOP-led Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) will hold a hearing to target mifepristone with anti-abortion disinformation and lies. As evidenced by its inflammatory framing, the hearing will not be grounded in science or medical consensus. It is the latest vehicle in a years-long, coordinated strategy by the anti-abortion movement and its Republican allies to ban abortion nationwide by targeting mifepristone.
FDA-approved for more than 25 years, mifepristone is a safe, effective medication used in more than 60% of abortions in the U.S. and as standard care for miscarriage management. A new study published yesterday in the medical journal JAMA also concluded that FDA leadership consistently followed evidenced-based recommendations from the agency’s scientists when making key decisions about mifepristone.The witness list makes the purpose of tomorrow’s hearing even clearer. Senate Republicans have invited Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill and Dr. Monique Wubbenhorst—two fixtures of the anti-abortion movement—to recycle their tired, disproven claims about mifepristone. Neither witness reflects mainstream medical or legal consensus; both are embedded in coordinated efforts to restrict medication abortion.
Under Murrill’s leadership, Louisiana has been at the center of escalating legal conflict between states protecting abortion care and states attempting to criminalize care within and beyond their borders. Murrill joined a group of Republican attorneys general in pressuring Congress to override state shield laws that protect abortion providers and patients and sought to extradite New York and California physicians to face criminal charges under Louisiana’s devastating abortion ban. She also fiercely defended Louisiana’s first-in-the-nation law that inappropriately reclassified mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances, further restricting access to these essential medications and disrupting and delaying time-sensitive care.
Wubbenhorst regularly advocates against evidenced-based contraception, abortion, and reproductive health care, and testifies in support of anti-abortion initiatives in Congress. She has served as a board member of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Americans United for Life, two notorious anti-abortion organizations that promote debunked claims about abortion care under the guise of medical authority.
This hearing follows a familiar playbook: regurgitate junk science, launder ideology through handpicked anti-abortion witnesses, and spread disinformation to advance an agenda that cannot win on the merits. Because the claims expected in this hearing are predictable and repeatedly debunked, we are flagging them in advance to set the record straight.
Facts vs. GOP Fiction
Myth: “The FDA rushed its approval of mifepristone.”
Fact: The FDA approval process for mifepristone was rigorous and spanned nearly two decades. Furthermore, a new study by experts in federal health policy and drug regulation from Johns Hopkins University published in the medical journal JAMA—drawing on more than 5,000 pages of agency documents over 12 years—found that FDA leadership consistently followed the evidenced-based recommendations of the agency’s scientists when making key decisions about mifepristone. The FDA’s scientists, physicians, and researchers are better equipped than any lawmaker to determine safety and efficacy, and their conclusions are grounded in extensive clinical data and real-world use.
Big Picture: Republicans are trying to undermine trust in the FDA and public health institutions to invalidate mifepristone’s 25-year track record of safety and efficacy. These attacks are not actually about process or science; they are part of a coordinated strategy to ban abortion nationwide.
Myth: “Mifepristone is dangerous, and the American people don’t want unsafe medications being pushed on them.”
Fact: Mifepristone’s safety and efficacy have been proven by over 100 evidence-based, peer-reviewed studies. It has been used safely by 7.5 million people since it was approved over 25 years ago. And as polls repeatedly demonstrate, most Americans want medication abortion to be legal and accessible. According to a December 2025 report from KFF, the majority of Americans (68%) oppose policies that would restrict access to mifepristone.
Big Picture: Republicans know public opinion is not on their side, so they’re spreading blatant lies about abortion and hoping they get away with it. Unfounded attacks on mifepristone are not about protecting patients, they’re about imposing an unpopular nationwide abortion ban by any means necessary.
Myth: “This is an isolated issue.”
Fact: From Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA) pressuring elected officials to ban mifepristone through legislation, to Students for Life repeatedly making false claims about its alleged impact on the environment, to designated hate groups like Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) bringing baseless lawsuits, these groups are relying on junk science and disinformation.
Big Picture: Anti-abortion extremists are working in lockstep with Trump and his allies to achieve their shared goal: a nationwide abortion ban. Together, they are targeting mifepristone through every level and branch of government—including Congress, the courts, and federal agencies like the FDA, HHS, and EPA—to override scientific evidence, medical expertise, and public opinion.
Myth: “We’re leaving it up to the states.”
Fact: Anti-abortion Republicans are trying to ban abortion nationwide through a series of coordinated attacks on shield laws, telemedicine, and medication abortion care—making clear that they never intended to leave abortion access “up to the states.” When abortion is legal, they seek to override state protections; when it is banned, they attempt to export those bans across state lines by targeting providers who are operating lawfully under shield laws.
Big Picture: Abortion bans have devastated access in many states, but care continues through telehealth and shield laws—and medication abortion usage is rising. Telehealth is a lifeline for people who can’t afford to travel for abortion care, and in states where abortion remains legal, telehealth helps close persistent access gaps.
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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.