House Values Action Team Chairman Robert Aderholt and several members of Congress have issued statements criticizing the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent approval of a new generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone. The lawmakers expressed concerns about the safety of the drug and its potential impact on women’s health.
Aderholt, who has represented Alabama’s 4th district in Congress since 1997, said, “The FDA’s approval of a new generic version of the abortion pill, mifepristone, endangers women’s health and disregards the value of life. Previously approved versions of this drug demonstrated dangerous side effects including life-threatening sepsis, infection and hemorrhaging. The FDA’s own fact sheet on mifepristone shows troubling rates of adverse events including hospitalization, blood transfusions, and even death following use of this dangerous drug.” He added, “Even more troubling, a recent large-scale study shows significant under-reporting of these adverse events. I urge HHS to quickly expedite its thorough investigation into the harmful effects and adverse events associated with mifepristone, as already promised by Secretary Kennedy. We must protect women from the dangers and serious risks of chemical abortion.”
Aderholt further stated, “By approving another generic iteration of this pill while a safety review is ongoing, the FDA risks undermining women’s health and safety across the United States. The agency must stay true to its mission of protecting public health and ensuring the safety of drugs,” and emphasized his commitment to working with colleagues in Congress to protect both women and unborn children.
Other members echoed Aderholt’s concerns. House VAT Co-Chair Rep. Mary Miller (IL-15) said, “The FDA’s approval of another version of the abortion pill, mifepristone, raises serious concerns. This drug has well-documented risks to women’s health and is responsible for ending the lives of innocent unborn children. I urge the agency to carefully reconsider this decision and remain committed to its mission to protect public health, uphold the sanctity of life, and ensure the safety of all approved medications.”
House VAT Co-Chair Rep. Josh Brecheen (OK-04) stated: “The FDA’s recent approval of the generic version of mifepristone, the abortion pill, is completely unacceptable. Abortion is one of the defining evils of our time, and we must acknowledge that it is murder in every form. HHS must take accountability for this approval and thoroughly look into the negative effects of mifepristone, and its generic counterpart, not only on the children it murders but on the women who take it. Despite being labeled as ‘safe,’ 1 in 10 women who take the abortion pill face serious complications, at a rate 22x higher than initially reported by the FDA. How can anyone consider this safe?”
VAT Executive Committee Member Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger criticized policy changes made under President Biden: “Chemical abortion is not health care, and the Biden–Harris policy that stripped essential safety standards must be reversed. By expanding mifepristone access without in-person medical oversight and by permitting mail-order and retail pharmacy dispensing, their administration put women and unborn children at unnecessary risk. HHS should act immediately to reinstate these protections and complete its review so the public has the full picture of risks and outcomes. That is why I have introduced legislation in each of the last two Congresses to nullify the Biden-Harris administration’s dangerous mifepristone policy changes and restore common-sense safeguards for mothers and their babies.”
Congressman John Moolenaar (MI-02) stated: “The approval of a generic abortion pill is a grim development for the most vulnerable members of our society, the unborn, and the mothers who take it… More should be done to protect the sanctity of life, help women through pregnancy with resources to have healthy babies, and stop dangerous drugs that could hurt them from coming into the market.”
Other statements from House Values Action Team members included calls for further investigation into mifepristone’s safety profile by federal agencies such as HHS.
Robert Aderholt has served in Congress since 1997 after previously serving in Alabama’s state legislature; he was born in Haleyville in 1965 where he currently resides. He graduated from Birmingham–Southern College in 1987 with a BA before earning his JD from Samford University in 1990.
