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Newly-confirmed FDA Commissioner Martin Makary repeated anti-abortion misinformation about abortion pills during his March 6 hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee.<\/span>Aaron Schwartz\/Sipa\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n On Tuesday night,<\/span> the Senate 56 to 44 voted to confirm Martin Makary as Trump\u2019s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner.<\/p>\n Three Democrats\u2014Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)\u00a0\u2014joined Republicans in the confirmation vote to appoint Makary, formerly a surgeon and professor at the\u00a0Johns Hopkins School of Medicine<\/a>, to lead the agency\u2019s 18,000 employees and spearhead the regulation<\/a> of products as vast and varied as food, cosmetics, and medical devices.<\/p>\n As I wrote back in January<\/a>, as commissioner, Makary will also wield immense power to help facilitate\u2014or stymie\u2014anti-abortion Republicans\u2019 efforts<\/a> to roll back access to abortion pills, which now account for <\/a>more than half of all abortions and have helped the total number of abortions increase<\/em><\/a> since the Supreme Court overruled<\/a> Roe v. Wade<\/em> in June 2022. The pills have become much easier to access since 2021 when <\/strong>the FDA\u00a0ruled<\/a>\u00a0that mifepristone\u2014the first drug in the two-drug regimen, which also includes misoprostol\u2014could be distributed by mail or at pharmacies instead of requiring that they be obtained in person at a clinic or hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Makary has made no secret about his anti-abortion views. As <\/strong>I previously wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n The head of the FDA, housed within HHS,\u00a0<\/strong>could lead the agency\u2019s efforts to reinstate the in-person requirement to access abortion pills\u2014which would prevent them from being legally mailed to patients,\u00a0creating<\/a>\u00a0a massive blow to access\u2014and in the longer term revoke FDA approval of the drugs entirely, as Project 2025 recommends. Makary\u2026has been open about his anti-abortion views. After\u00a0Dobbs<\/em>\u00a0was handed down, Makary joined ex-Fox<\/em>\u00a0host Tucker Carlson on-air and described false information about fetuses\u2019 abilities to feel pain in utero, as the Center for Reproductive Rights\u00a0points out<\/a>. All this makes it clear why the conservative political advocacy group CatholicVote\u00a0celebrated<\/a>\u00a0Makary as a pro-life pick who could reverse FDA approval of the pills. Reproductive Freedom for All, an abortion rights advocacy group, on the other hand,\u00a0called<\/a>\u00a0Makary \u201ca known anti-abortion extremist\u201d after Trump announced his nomination.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth noting, though, that if Makary\u00a0did<\/em>\u00a0try to roll back the agency\u2019s approval of abortion pills, he would face an immediate legal challenge under the Administrative Procedure Act, which\u00a0prevents<\/a>\u00a0agencies from acting in ways that are \u201carbitrary or capricious,\u201d according to Rachel Rebouch\u00e9, reproductive law scholar and dean of Temple Law School.\u00a0(A spokesperson for the FDA said the agency would not comment on pending litigation or hypotheticals.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Attacks on the pills\u2014seeking to both reinstate the in-person requirement and eventually roll back FDA approval of the medication <\/strong>entirely, <\/strong>as both Project 2025<\/a> and anti-abortion advocates<\/a> have outlined\u2014come as more than 100 scientific studies have proven they are safe and effective<\/a>. One study published last year<\/a> that confirmed they are also safe and effective when prescribed virtually and mailed to patients.<\/p>\n But this didn\u2019t stop Makary, and some Republican senators, from peddling misinformation suggesting that the pills are dangerous during his March 6 confirmation hearing<\/a> before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. He refused to commit to upholding FDA approval of medication abortion when asked the question by <\/strong>Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Instead, his reply was evasive: \u201cYou have my commitment to follow the independent scientific review process at the FDA.\u201d<\/p>\n FDA nominee Martin Makary just dodged a simple, straightforward question from @PattyMurray<\/a> on whether he would uphold nearly TWO DECADES of evidence that mifepristone is safe and effective.<\/p>\n That tells you all you need to know about how he’ll lead the agency if confirmed. pic.twitter.com\/kNMsznYdX7<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Reproductive Freedom for All (@reproforall) March 6, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n At the March 6 hearing, Hassan\u2014one of the Democratic senators who ultimately voted to confirm Makary\u2014followed up, noting that when they met previously, Makary told her he was not familiar with mifepristone. \u201cHave you reviewed the data, and do you agree that mifepristone is safe and effective?\u201d Hassan asked. \u201cI did read those articles,\u201d Makary replied, adding that he was not unfamiliar with the drug itself, but rather with the evidence regarding <\/strong>its safety and efficacy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe concern is whether you are going to unilaterally overrule the data that currently exists for political reasons,\u201d Hassan pressed. Makary again declined to clarify. \u201cSenator, you have my commitment that once I\u2019m in office I will do a review of the data,\u201d he replied, adding, \u201cI have no preconceived plans to make changes to the mifepristone policy.\u201d Hassan concluded her time by stating, \u201cI wish you were hedging a little bit less today.\u201d A spokesperson for Hassan did not immediately respond to a question from Mother Jones<\/em> about why she voted to confirm Makary in light of her comments, and his responses, during his hearing.<\/p>\n Makary\u2019s response to anti-abortion Sen. Josh Hawley\u2019s (R-Mo.) question about whether he would reinstate in-person requirements for obtaining the drugs inspired less confidence than his claim to Hassan that he has no \u201cpreconceived plans\u201d to restrict mifepristone. \u201cI do think it makes sense to review the totality of data and ongoing data,\u201d Makary said. \u201cI know, personally, of OB doctors who prefer to insist\u2026that mifepristone be taken, when necessary, in their office, as they observe the person taking it. And I think their concern there is if the drug is in the wrong hands, it could be used for coercion.\u201d<\/p>\n The reproductive coercion argument has long been discredited, but abortion opponents brought it to the Supreme Court last year when they sought to restrict mifepristone access. As I wrote then<\/a> of the argument:<\/p>\n And like many arguments from the anti-abortion side, the claim that medication abortion prescribed through telehealth contributes in any significant way to domestic abuse is baseless: Experts told me it\u2019s unsupported by evidence and ignores many of the ways reproductive coercion\u00a0actually<\/em>\u00a0manifests\u2014as well as the many benefits telehealth abortion can provide for people experiencing intimate partner violence.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Meanwhile, legitimate research<\/a> suggests that increasing numbers of abortion restrictions nationwide are what is driving reproductive coercion<\/a>. <\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, <\/strong>abortion rights advocates greeted the news of Makary\u2019s confirmation with despair. \u201cMartin Makary\u2019s confirmation jeopardizes two of the most important aspects of the FDA: independence and decision-making rooted in science,\u201d Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, said<\/a> in a statement Tuesday night. \u201cTrump just succeeded at giving yet another extremist the green light to chip away at birth control, medication abortion, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement provided to Mother Jones<\/em>, Anna Bernstein, principal federal policy advisor at the reproductive research and policy center, the Guttmacher Institute, said that Makary\u2019s confirmation \u201ccould further erode abortion access nationwide.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMakary\u2019s refusal to acknowledge the well-established safety of mifepristone, one of the two drugs used in a medication abortion regimen, during his confirmation hearing signals a willingness to prioritize political pressures over scientific evidence,\u201d Bernstein added.<\/p>\n Freya Riedlin, senior federal policy counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told Mother Jones<\/em> that Makary \u201chas indicated he is open to playing politics with medicine and pregnant people\u2019s lives.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThe FDA needs a leader committed to protecting access to quality health care for everyone\u2014not someone with a documented history of opposing reproductive health care access and spreading inaccurate health information,\u201d Riedlin added.<\/p>\n Responding to his confirmation, Sen. Murray wrote on X<\/a>: \u201cWe need an FDA Commissioner who will put science over politics to protect the health and safety of all Americans. That means opposing far-right efforts to restrict safe & effective medication abortion\u2014at minimum. I voted NO on Dr. Makary to lead the FDA.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
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