Trump’s new FDA commissioner might ban abortion medication

On March 26, the Senate confirmed a former surgical oncologist and professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Reproductive justice advocates are concerned that Dr. Martin Makary, who will oversee the approval of medications, could place restrictions on the use of abortion medications. 

 “As FDA commissioner, Dr. Makary is now in a position where he could impose new restrictions on access to medication abortion or completely revoke approval of these medications,” Freya Riedlin, senior federal policy counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in an email sent to TAI News.

During his March 6 confirmation hearing by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Makary was asked about reinstating restrictions on the prescribing of mifepristone, which is used together with misoprostol in medication abortions. He responded, “I have no preconceived plans on mifepristone policy except to take a solid hard look at the data and to meet with the professional career scientists who have reviewed the data at the FDA and to build an expert coalition to review the ongoing data, which is required to be collected” under the FDA’s risk evaluation and mitigation strategies, a program of ongoing monitoring of drugs deemed by the agency to need special oversight due to safety concerns. 

Approved by the FDA in 2000, mifepristone, which is sold as a generic as well as under the brand name Mifeprex, has been conclusively deemed safe and effective after years of extensive scientific testing and analysis. 

“Martin Makary’s confirmation jeopardizes two of the most important aspects of the FDA: independence and decision-making rooted in science,” Mini Timmaraju, the CEO and president of Reproductive Freedom for All, said in a statement released on March 25. “Trump just succeeded at giving yet another extremist the green light to chip away at birth control, medication abortion, and more. We will make sure voters remember it when they head to the ballot box.”

During an interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson on June 24, 2022, the day that the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion, Makary made several false statements about fetal pain and surgical abortions. 

When Carlson asked Makary whether a fetus feels pain in utero, his response was, “That’s right, Tucker, somewhere between 15 and 20 weeks babies will actually resist the instruments of abortion.” 

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a human fetus is unable to feel pain until about 24 to 25 weeks of pregnancy because the connections that send signals from the nerves to the brain do not develop until then. 

Makary continued: “Now, Roe is based on viability, but viability has been changing. Babies survive now at approximately the halfway point of pregnancy; at 21 and 22 weeks, babies have survived outside the womb. … It doesn’t matter which side you protest on around this issue, if you see the actual images of what’s happening and a baby resisting an abortion, it’ll weigh on your conscience.”

. ACOG notes that rates of survival of a fetus delivered during the periviable stage, between 20 weeks and 26 weeks of pregnancy, vary based on a number of factors, but that a fetus delivered prior to 23 weeks’ gestation will have just a 5% to 6% chance of survival. 

Makary’s appointment was celebrated by Focus on the Family, an anti-abortion evangelical organization, and by Catholic Vote, an anti-abortion Catholic advocacy organization. 

“The incoming Trump administration may not look exactly like the last one when it comes to across-the-board pro-life stalwarts, but it it’s nevertheless encouraging and promising for those committed to saving the innocent that stalwarts like Drs. Makary and [Dr. David] Weldon will soon be hanging up their shingles in Washington, D.C.,” wrote Paul J. Batura, vice president of communities for Focus on the Family. 

In an interview with Mother Jones, Rachel Rebouché, dean of the Temple University Beasley School of Law, said that if Makary were to attempt to restrict access to mifepristone, he could face legal challenges under the Administrative Procedure Act, a federal law that prohibits agencies from unlawful behavior that is “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.”