WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., wants Congress to ban mifepristone, a drug that, according to many experts, is used for over half the abortions in the nation.
Hawley announced the legislation at a Wednesday news conference with his 5-year-old daughter, Abigail, on his hip and his wife, Erin Hawley, close by. Erin Hawley is a lawyer who led a challenge to mifepristone’s Food and Drug Administration approval. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2024.
The court rejected the case on technical grounds, but Missouri, Kansas and Idaho revived the case. It now sits before a federal judge in St. Louis.
Hawley’s announcement came five days after the Trump administration frustrated anti-abortion activists by filing a motion asking the court to postpone or dismiss the case until the FDA can complete a new safety study of mifepristone.
Hawley called the study “a dead end” after a meeting with FDA director Martin Makary in February.
Instead of taking issue with President Donald Trump, Hawley called on his colleagues to step up. He said Congress “is where the fight to protect women’s health and safety and to protect life is. This is it. This is the fight.”
Any legislation must overcome a 60-vote filibuster hurdle to pass the Senate. Republicans only control 53 votes in the chamber.
Hawley’s proposal is a total ban on the use of mifepristone, which was used in 63% of abortions in the U.S. in 2023, according to Guttmacher, a reproductive health policy and research nonprofit. Hawley’s news conference highlighted his concern about the drug’s potential impact on women’s health.
Emphasis on safety
About 20 women surrounded the podium where Hawley stood with signs that read, “Protect life. Protect women,” and “abortion drugs hurt women.”
Through tears, Elizabeth Gillette said that she took mifepristone after being pressured by her then-boyfriend and Planned Parenthood practitioners. Gillette said she was not adequately prepared for what the chemical abortion would — physically or mentally — entail.
“This is not easy,” she said. “This is not something that our women need to be experiencing.”
The World Health Organization recommends using mifepristone, followed by misoprostol, as a safe and effective method to terminate pregnancies up to 12 weeks. Abortion-rights groups often promote the product as a way to expand abortion access to those who may not be able to visit a doctor in person or who want a nonsurgical option.
In 2022, after the Supreme Court overturned its own landmark case, Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal nationwide, medication abortions became a lifeline for many women, said Liz Wagner, senior federal policy counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
“That is precisely why anti-abortion politicians want to take mifepristone off the market or make it harder to access — they know that would drastically disrupt much-needed abortion care nationwide,” Wagner said in a statement.
Still, a number of Hawley’s guests shared stories of their own medication abortions that resulted in physical and mental health problems similar to what Gillette experienced.
Hawley also took aim at one of the most prolific manufacturers and distributors of mifepristone, Danco Laboratories LLC. The New York-based company, with ties to the Cayman Islands, operates in relative secrecy. Danco has previously stated its anonymity is due to fear of retribution from anti-abortion advocates. Hawley said he thinks otherwise and called on the private company to publicly disclose its investors.
“It’s because their drug is inherently dangerous, and they know it, but it is so, so profitable,” Hawley said. “No amount of profit justifies what’s happened to these women.”
Abortion in Missouri
In 2024, Missouri voters approved Amendment 3 by a vote of 51.6% to legalize abortions in the state. However, state legislators proposed an Amendment 3 of their own, set to be on the ballot in November. The new Amendment 3 would reinstate a near-total ban on abortion in Missouri with an exception for survivors of rape or incest up to 12 weeks gestation.
“I’m gonna be out there making the case that we need to protect life in the state of Missouri,” Hawley said. “We currently have abortion on demand. We have to fix it. We’re gonna have the chance to do that this fall.”
Hawley said as long as mifepristone is widely available, a vote won’t make a difference.
“So long as this drug can be mailed into every state of the union, with no safeguards to speak of, it’s not gonna matter,” he said.
