- More than 200 Republican lawmakers urged the HHS to restore in-person requirements for prescribing mifepristone, arguing mail-order access endangers women.
- The letter cites studies claiming the FDA underestimates serious risks associated with the abortion drug.
- All six members of Utah's congressional delegation signed the letter.
As part of the push to reduce in-person interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic, then-president Joe Biden approved mail-order abortion drugs, medicine that previously required a doctor’s prescription.
Last week, 51 Republican senators and 175 representatives sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., urging him to reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, the abortion drug in question.
Utah Reps. Burgess Owens, Blake Moore, Celeste Maloy and Mike Kennedy, a medical doctor, signed the letter from the House. Utah Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis signed the letter from the Senate.
The letter argues that mifepristone is harmful for women who take the drug. “While we have long known that mifepristone causes the death by starvation of children alive in the womb — it is baby poison — we now know with greater certitude that their mothers are also being seriously harmed,“ the letter says.
It references a study conducted by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, which found that previous medical reviews ignored abortion drug-induced injuries like sepsis and hemorrhage. Another study found that mifepristone is 22 times more likely to result in serious adverse events than the FDA currently recognizes.
Owens released a statement calling the mail-order abortion drug policy a “reckless rule that allows dangerous abortion drugs to be shipped nationwide with no doctor visit, no screening, no safeguards and no regard for state pro-life laws.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also said that mail-order mifepristone side-steps state abortion laws, potentially violating the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Graham told Just The News “If the federal government allows the abortion pill to be sent by mail, it would wipe out all state laws that protect the unborn, particularly states that restrict abortion at twelve weeks and under.”
As of November 2025, 19 states have abortion bans of at least 12 weeks or fewer.
“If you believe that protecting the unborn is a state issue, you cannot have the federal government undercutting that position by allowing the abortion pill to be sent through the mail,” Graham said.
“It is important for the Trump administration to return to its 2017 policies, requiring a doctor consult before the drug can be prescribed because of the dangers it presents,” Graham added. “One of the most important issues in the history of the pro-life movement is the chemical abortion pill and how it’s administered. We must get this right.”