Republican senators launched an investigation on March 25 into companies that make the abortion pill mifepristone, questioning whether they are complying with federal safety mandates.
Republicans on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee accused the drug companies of putting the lives of mothers at risk.
“These manufacturers and websites have facilitated the explosion in online sales of these harmful drugs without regard for women’s health and safety while opening the door for coercion and abuse,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said in a statement. “[The Food and Drug Administration] should act within its existing authorities to curb this abuse and immediately reinstate safeguards such as the in-person dispensing requirement.”
The senators questioned how drug manufacturers Danco, GenBioPro, and Evita Solutions can follow Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandates when the abortion pills are sold online without the in-person oversight of a doctor.
The Republicans said there are U.S. and international websites that appear to illegally sell unapproved and misbranded chemical abortion drugs directly to consumers. Many times, the sales are done with no prescription, no medical oversight, and no guarantee that the drug is what the seller claims it to be, according to the GOP statement.
Cassidy is leading a group of Republicans that is trying to institute an in-person requirement for dispensing abortion drugs.
Lila Rose, founder and president of the pro-life nonprofit Live Action, said data showed that one in 10 women who take abortion pills experience serious complications.
“Women and their children are being put at risk,” Rose said in the statement. “The FDA must act immediately to restore protections and put their safety first.”
The FDA reported two years ago that 32 women died out of about 5.9 million after taking mifepristone for medical abortions from 2000, when it was approved, through December 2022. The FDA said it could not attribute those 32 deaths to the abortion pill because of gaps in information on the patients, such as health status and whether they were on any other drugs.
In January, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) criticized members of the committee for what she called a “sham partisan effort” to make people concerned about the safety of mifepristone.
Murray said in a statement that mifepristone is one of the most rigorously studied medications and has been proven safe and effective in more than 100 studies.
“FDA had the data to prove this when they first approved mifepristone 25 years ago, and its safety was reaffirmed when FDA approved a generic version this last fall,” she said.
