Pro-Life Advocates Urge Trump Admin to Restrict Abortion Pill

Movement leaders praise gains but say the administration should restore restrictions on abortion drugs.

People take part in the 53rd annual March for Life in Washington on Jan. 23, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—Pro-life advocates are calling on the Trump administration to reimpose restrictions on the abortion pill.

At the 53rd annual March for Life on Jan. 23, advocates praised the administration for policy victories against abortion, but many said more needs to be done.

The Biden administration loosened restrictions on obtaining the abortion pill, allowing women to get it without an in-person visit to the doctor. The Trump administration has allowed those regulations to stay in place.

One of the movement’s most prominent leaders, SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser, said the Trump administration’s inaction on the interstate flow of the drugs is a reason for a national increase in abortions in the United States.

“In the wake of Dobbs, [President Joe] Biden eliminated the in-person dispensing requirement for abortion drugs—flooding the market with mail-order abortions without any meaningful medical oversight,” Dannenfelser said in a Jan. 23 statement, referring to the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.

That 2022 decision overturned the landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade, which said the Constitution protected a right to abortion.

Following that decision, President Donald Trump described abortion as an issue for states to decide. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently conducting a review of the safety of the abortion pill.

“The Trump–Vance position of ‘back to the states’ is being undermined every single day as abortion drugs flood illegally into pro-life states,” Danenfelser said. “Women are also paying the price, with horrifying cases of abuse and coercion emerging—including in Vice President [JD] Vance’s home state of Ohio.

“It is time for the Trump–Vance administration to act and, at a minimum, restore in-person dispensing, getting these dangerous drugs out of the mail.”

Her sentiments echoed those of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who joined other Republican politicians at a Jan. 14 press conference calling on the FDA to act.

The Epoch Times reached out to the White House for comment but received no response.

Trump’s second term has delivered major wins for the pro-life movement, including a bill defunding Planned Parenthood and other administrative actions. The day before the March for Life, the Health and Human Services Department announced that it was ending funding for research that used aborted human fetal tissue.

“Six years ago, I was proud to be the first president in history to attend this march in person,” Trump said in a video address to rally attendees. “Since then, we have made unprecedented strides to protect innocent life and support the institution of the family like never before.”

Vice President JD Vance’s speech at the March for Life disputed what he described as the “elephant in the room,” the fear that not enough progress was being made.

“We love each other, but we’re going to have open conversations about how best to use our political system to advance life, how prudential we must be in the cause of advancing human life,” he said.

“We have made tremendous strides over the last year, and we’re going to continue to make strides over the next three years to come, but I’m a realist.”

Originally approved by the FDA in the early 2000s, the abortion drug mifepristone was put under a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy that required it to be given during an in-person visit with a medical provider qualified to assess the risks.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the first Trump administration refused to remove the in-person dispensing requirement. Under President Joe Biden, the FDA dropped the in-person requirement and allowed any pharmacy to distribute the drug, either in person or by mail.

In 2021, the FDA said that research appeared not to show increases in serious safety concerns when the in-person requirement was modified during the pandemic. The Biden administration also defended the pill as “the best method” for many “to lawfully terminate their early pregnancies.”

Pro-life organizations such as the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetrician-Gynecologists have described the pill as unsafe, and pro-life advocates continue to criticize its effects.

“What we’ve seen specifically during the Biden administration was the mail-order abortion drug scheme being initiated and for the express purpose of trying to evade those state laws in pro-life states,” Gabriella McIntyre, legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom’s Center for Life, told The Epoch Times ahead of the march.

“All they have to do is go online and fill out a quick form, and two days later, the drugs show up in the mail from complete strangers in other states.”

McIntyre’s organization has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Louisiana woman who she said was coerced into taking abortion pills mailed to her from California.

Matthew Vadum and Savannah Hulsey Pointer contributed to this report.

Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled the name of Gabriella McIntyre, legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom’s Center for Life. The Epoch Times regrets the error.