Overview
- Senate HELP chair Bill Cassidy urged immediate reinstatement of pre-2021 in-person dispensing requirements for mifepristone.
- Republican witnesses centered on coercion cases and extradition fights over telehealth prescribing, with Louisiana’s attorney general citing disputes involving New York and California shield laws.
- Democrats and their witness Nisha Verma emphasized a strong safety record for medication abortion and described telehealth screening and follow-up procedures supported by more than 100 studies.
- Medication abortions account for over 60% of U.S. abortions as HHS says the FDA’s review of mifepristone is ongoing and officials dispute reports of an election-timed delay.
- A JAMA study reviewing 5,239 internal FDA pages found oversight from 2011 to 2023 was guided by staff scientists, noting only limited leadership departures in 2016 and 2020.