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U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley filed legislation this week that would undo federal approval of mifepristone, a key abortion drug, nationwide. The move underscores the anti-abortion movement’s growing dissatisfaction with the Trump administration’s approach to the issue.
“Congress must act now to protect the health and safety of women,” Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, said in a Wednesday statement.
Hawley’s bill would direct the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to withdraw its approval of mifepristone to terminate pregnancies, make distributing the drug a violation of federal law and allow women to sue abortion drug manufacturers.
“This is just yet another attempt to try and discredit mifepristone, which we know from decades of research is a very safe and effective method,” Plan C co-founder Elisa Wells told States Newsroom. “The claims put forth in this bill, this attempt to unjustly restrict access, are false, and they’re based on bogus science that conservatives are putting forth as real.”
Despite hundreds of studies pointing to the medication’s safety, the FDA is conducting a review of mifepristone, a drug the agency approved more than 25 years ago.
Republican attorneys general from Louisiana, Missouri, Idaho, Kansas, Florida and Texas have grown impatient with the FDA’s approach to abortion policy and taken matters into their own hands by suing the federal government and asking the courts to prohibit the pill from being prescribed through telehealth, among other restrictions. The Department of Justice has sought to delay these lawsuits — or dismiss them entirely — arguing that the litigation is interfering with the FDA’s review of mifepristone.
A pending request in the Louisiana case for an injunction on telehealth abortion care, if granted, could limit access nationwide, at least temporarily.
Major anti-abortion groups endorsed Hawley’s legislation this week, including the Ethics and Public Policy Center. The conservative think tank published a non-peer reviewed paper in April that said nearly 11% of people who took abortion medication ended up experiencing serious adverse events, though there’s dispute over how that’s defined in the paper. The FDA’s label for Mifeprex — a brand of mifepristone — states that serious adverse effects were reported in less than 0.5% of women.
In January, researchers at Johns Hopkins University published a study reviewing the documents the FDA used when assessing mifepristone’s regulations from 2011 to 2023. The authors concluded that the agency based its decisions on scientific evidence instead of ideological bias and acted with caution when widening the drug’s availability.
Reproductive health researchers refuted the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s approach to its mifepristone paper, States Newsroom reported. But Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered a review of mifepristone a few weeks after its publication and told Hawley the findings were “alarming” during a Senate hearing.
In the states, Republican lawmakers have honed in on limiting the availability of abortion medication, the most common way to terminate early pregnancies in the U.S. Legislation that would open the door to an avalanche of lawsuits against abortion providers and drugmakers await governors’ signatures — or vetoes — in Mississippi and South Dakota.
Republican legislators framed these measures as closing loopholes that allow people to access abortion drugs in states where abortion is banned. Telehealth medication abortion prescribed by providers in states with shield laws accounted for 27% of all abortions provided during the first half of 2025, according to the Society of Family Planning’s latest #WeCount report.
Our reproductive rights reporting team has been tracking these bills closely this year. Depending on the partisan makeup of a state’s legislature and other state government officials, some bills have a better chance of passing and becoming law than others.
Alaska
House Bill 326: This bill would explicitly prevent providers from offering medication abortions remotely, and it would require a follow-up appointment within two weeks of providing an abortion “to confirm that the pregnancy was terminated.”
In a sponsor statement, Republican Rep. Kevin McCabe said his bill “raises the standard of care and ensures that these drugs are not distributed anonymously or without physician involvement.” McCabe said he believes that life starts at conception, and he sponsored failed legislation in 2024 that would define a fetus as a person in the state’s criminal code, Alaska Beacon reported.
Status: In the House Health and Social Services, Judiciary Committees
Sponsor: Republican Rep. Kevin McCabe
Indiana
Senate Bill 236: The Indiana Senate approved legislation in January that would have allowed Hoosiers to sue anyone involved in sending abortion pills to the state, making providers and drugmakers liable. Plaintiffs could have collected at least $100,000 if they won the lawsuit, Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.
The bill would have also increased the amount of data about abortion patients that the state receives, and it would have declared that treatments for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies are not abortions, which is medically inaccurate. Mifepristone and misoprostol can be used to treat early pregnancy loss, and methotrexate can be used to treat ectopic pregnancies — when the fertilized egg grows in the fallopian tubes instead of the uterus — if they’re diagnosed early, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. All three of those drugs are considered abortion-inducing medications.
Status: Failed — House declined to take up the bill before session ended
Sponsor: Republican Sen. Tyler Johnson
Kentucky
House Bill 646: This bill would classify abortion drugs as controlled dangerous substances, which would make them harder to access during obstetric emergencies. Anyone found guilty of having abortion medication illegally would face up to three years in prison. Pregnant women who have the drugs in their possession would be exempt from penalties.
Under the proposal, anyone found guilty of mailing or sending abortion pills into Kentucky could also face up to three years behind bars. The bill would allow a pregnant person, their spouse, parent or legal guardian to sue providers who prescribe abortion medication to Kentucky residents. Providers who treat abortion complications must also tell patients about this legal remedy if the bill becomes law.
Status: In the House Judiciary Committee
Sponsor: Republican Rep. Nancy Tate
Oklahoma
Senate Bill 1657: The measure would prohibit people from making, mailing, transporting or distributing abortion medication in the state. It would allow people to bring lawsuits against those who possess abortion drugs, and plaintiffs could receive up to $100,000 if their claims win in court. Women who terminate their pregnancies or attempt to self-manage abortions would be exempt from litigation.
Status: In the Senate Health and Human Services Committee
Sponsor: Republican Sen. Julie Daniels
Mississippi
House Bill 1613: This legislation would make it illegal to sell, manufacture, distribute or dispense abortion-inducing drugs in the state, which bans all abortions unless the mother’s life or health is at risk.
Violators could face between one and 10 years in prison, and the state attorney general could enforce civil penalties against the person, too, Mississippi Free Press reported. The House passed the bill in February, and the Senate approved the bill on March 11. If Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signs the measure, it would take effect in July.
Status: On governor’s desk
Sponsors: Republican Reps. Kevin Horan and William Tracy Arnold
South Dakota
House Bill 1274: The state Senate approved a bill Monday that would make dispensing, distributing, selling or advertising abortion pills and any other abortion-related “instrument” or “article” illegal. Violators of the measure could face two years in prison, a $4,000 fine or both, South Dakota Searchlight reported.
The attorney general could seek penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation, and the money would go in a fund used to pursue anti-abortion litigation. Republican Attorney General Marty Jackley reached a settlement with Mayday Health this week over an over abortion medication ads it ran at gas stations across the state last year, Searchlight reported.
Status: On governor’s desk
Sponsors: Republican Reps. John Hughes and Greg Blanc
West Virginia
Senate Bill 173: The state Senate approved a bill last month that would prohibit abortion pills from being sent to West Virginians. Doctors could lose their medical licenses, and nonmedical professionals could face three to 10 years in prison for mailing abortion pills into the state, West Virginia Watch reported.
The legislation includes an exemption for providers who offer the drug for a “legitimate medical reason.” Legislators approved an amendment by Republican Sen. Eric Tarr that would make the state attorney general file an annual report on lawsuits filed on behalf of pregnant people who used abortion pills. People who sue the person or entity that sent abortion pills into West Virginia could collect up to $10,000.
Status: In House Judiciary Committee
Sponsor: Republican Sen. Chris Rose
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