Trump Can’t Fulfill ‘MAHA’ Without Abortion Pill Restrictions

It’s no surprise that President Trump’s nomination for surgeon general, Dr. Casey Means, was grilled on vaccines and whether health care is a human right during her recent Senate confirmation hearing. Somewhat unexpected, however, was the first question she was asked after finishing her opening remarks.

While the MAHA movement has largely avoided the topic of abortion, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) did not: “Do you believe that the abortion pill, mifepristone, is safe and should be prescribed without an in-person visit with a physician?” Cassidy asked.

Means offered a tepid, politically safe response: “I think that every medication has risks and benefits. I think that all patients need to have a thorough conversation with their doctor and have true and informed consent before taking any medication.”

Yet most women are not well informed about the medications that will prematurely end the life of their child.

Under President Biden, the FDA pursued an abortion pill policy guided by progressive ideology, not women’s health and safety. Current regulations don’t require any conversation with a doctor. Informed consent is nothing more than checking a box.

This status quo is precisely why Sen. Cassidy raised the question. It’s unfortunate he didn’t get a real answer.

It’s unfortunate that Means — a new mother who experienced the profound miracle of birth less than six months ago — doesn’t have stronger reservations about medically induced abortions. But this is the tightrope the MAHA movement has been walking from the beginning. While it unabashedly affirms life in its positions on agriculture, nutrition, fitness, and holistic wellness, some of its most ardent supporters, including Robert F. Kennedy himself, come from a more liberal, pro-abortion culture.

However, it is hard to argue that our fruit supply should be protected from the harms of dangerous chemicals but not unborn babies.

Abortion is not women’s health care, regardless of the means. But chemically induced abortions have a sordid history and carry unique, significant risks to women and girls.

The “abortion pill,” as it’s commonly known, usually refers to mifepristone. It is the first of two drugs in the chemical abortion process.

The first pill disrupts the production of progesterone, the hormone needed to nurture an unborn child and sustain a pregnancy. The second one, misoprostol, is taken to cause uterine contractions that expel the dead baby, which is usually then flushed down the toilet, contaminating the water supply.

Originally approved in 2000 under the Clinton administration, the approval process for mifepristone was poisoned by politics from the start. The FDA went to great lengths to avoid transparency at the time, a highly irregular move for the agency charged with protecting public health by ensuring drug safety.

When mifepristone was initially approved, it could only be taken through seven weeks’ gestation, had to be prescribed by a doctor and dispensed in person, and required multiple in-person follow-ups. The drug had long been subject to a Risk Evaluation Mitigation Strategy (REMS), that required heightened restrictions to ensure benefits outweigh the serious risks. A doctor must “opt in” and have a prescriber agreement directly with the manufacturer to order mifepristone.

Over the years, REMS have been repeatedly weakened at the behest of the abortion industry and at the expense of women and unborn children. Original safety requirements have been all but wiped away.

Today, these pills can be taken through 10 weeks of gestation, don’t require an in-person interaction with a doctor, and can be shipped through the mail. Some women wrongly estimate or lie about their due date, risking increased rates of complications past the 10-week cutoff. An undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy, another major risk factor, can be life-threatening if not addressed. Without an ultrasound, there’s no way to ensure the pills are being taken within the recommended guidelines.

According to the drug label, 85 percent of women will have at least one adverse reaction — such as nausea, fever, or vomiting. Eight percent of women may bleed for more than 30 days. One out of 22 women will end up in the emergency room.

An April 2025 report from the Ethics and Public Policy Center demonstrates that adverse outcomes are underestimated. The study (which reviewed more than 865,000 insurance claims of actual mifepristone patients) found at least a 22x higher rate of serious complications than reported by the FDA and drug manufacturers. The EPPC writes that these findings “suggest an urgent need for stronger safety and regulatory oversight.” Earlier this year, the EPPC filed an amicus brief on behalf of a case being brought by the state of Louisiana against the FDA in federal district court – State of Louisiana v. FDA. The brief suggests that dropping the requirement for an in-person visit increased abortion pill usage by 1.5 to 2.3 percent.

This does not put women and girls first. It favors an industry that sacrifices health and well-being at the altar of destruction and death.

These are the messy, but necessary, conversations MAHA must have in the public square. The conservative instinct to embrace, not shut down such debates, is why so many MAHA Democrats voted for President Trump and support Secretary Kennedy. The more we have honest, transparent discussions rooted in medically sound science, the better we can be at persuading people to believe that every child deserves a chance at a healthy life — even the unborn ones.

If MAHA wants to fulfill its promise to secure holistic health for all Americans, it must address the destructive physical, mental, and spiritual impact of abortion. It’s time to reject the ideological blinders that have eroded safety standards for abortion pills and instead prioritize genuine informed consent, rigorous medical oversight, and the protection of both mothers and their unborn children.

Jennifer Galardi is a Senior Policy Analyst for Restoring American Wellness in Heritage’s DeVos Center for Life, Religion and Family, where Melanie Israel is a Visiting Fellow.