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Press Release
Reproductive Freedom for All Urges Senate to Reject Heidi Overton for FDA Commissioner Due to Record of Anti-Abortion Extremism
For Immediate Release: Thursday, September 24, 2026
Contact: [email protected]
Reproductive Freedom for All Urges Senate to Reject Heidi Overton for FDA Commissioner Due to Record of Anti-Abortion Extremism
Washington, DC — Following today’s Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee confirmation hearing, Reproductive Freedom for All is calling on senators to reject the nomination of Heidi Overton, given her record of anti-abortion extremism and supporting efforts to restrict mifepristone. Overton has called abortion “corrosive” and spread junk science around the safety of medication abortion. If confirmed to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Overton would oversee the agency responsible for regulating critical healthcare like medication abortion, emergency contraception, and birth control.
During the hearing, mifepristone access emerged as a central point of debate for both parties, with Overton dodging simple questions from Democratic Senators about whether she would affirm decades of science proving that mifepristone is safe and effective. Overton also refused to disavow the Trump administration’s efforts to spread disinformation about contraception.
Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju released the following statement:
“Heidi Overton has one of the most alarming anti-abortion records of any FDA nominee to date and is entirely unfit to serve as a leader in public health. Senators who vote to confirm Overton will be choosing Trump over their own constituents.”
Several Republicans facing serious challenges this November are on the HELP Committee, including Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Jon Husted (R-OH), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Ashley Moody (R-FL). Reproductive Freedom for All has already begun launching ads slamming Overton’s extremism in top battleground congressional districts – Republicans up and down the ticket could face backlash from voters for backing her nomination.
Overton currently serves as deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. Before joining the Trump administration, she was chief policy officer at the America First Policy Institute, where she repeatedly advocated for restricting medication abortion.
The FDA is tasked with protecting and promoting public health, but Overton’s nomination could mark a critical turning point for the agency’s priorities as Trump continues to install high-level political appointees who will do the bidding of anti-abortion groups instead of following the science. Heidi Overton has built her career on attacking reproductive freedom, and her confirmation would pose an immediate threat to reproductive healthcare, including mifepristone access.
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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 4.5 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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