{"id":34075,"date":"2025-05-12T17:51:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T17:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/?p=34075"},"modified":"2025-05-12T17:51:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T17:51:14","slug":"hawley-stunned-by-dojs-sudden-shift-on-key-abortion-pill-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/hawley-stunned-by-dojs-sudden-shift-on-key-abortion-pill-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawley ‘Stunned’ by DOJs Sudden Shift on Key Abortion Pill Case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Suzanne Bowdey, originally published May 12, 2025, The Washington Stand<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far back as last year\u2019s\u00a0Republican National Convention<\/a>, Americans have watched with surprise at the mixed messages from Donald Trump on abortion. The man widely considered the most pro-life president in history has sent confusing signals since campaigning for a second term. And unfortunately for pro-lifers, one of the biggest gray areas is also one of the most dangerous: chemical abortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news that the president\u2019s Justice Department\u00a0urged the court to drop a case<\/a>\u00a0racing to protect women from the\u00a0horrors<\/a>\u00a0of the abortion pill made both sides\u2019 jaws drop. But is the DOJ\u2019s move the disappointment conservatives think it is \u2014 or is this part of a more complex legal strategy than the Trump team is letting on? The Left certainly thinks so. In the legacy media, several outlets are warning liberals not to get overly excited by the shift. The headlines may be \u201cwelcome,\u201d NBC concedes, \u201cbut supporters of abortion rights shouldn\u2019t celebrate too much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lost in all of the hype, Susan Rinkunas\u00a0cautions<\/a>, is that \u201cthe Department of Justice didn\u2019t say anything about whether it thinks the drug should remain available.\u201d And, she adds, \u201c[T]here\u2019s no guarantee the right-wing judge assigned to the case will dismiss the lawsuit, and there are many other ways the administration and its allies can still restrict abortion pill access.\u201d So yes, \u201cwhile it\u2019s true that the Trump DOJ sided with the Biden administration, it did so only on the technical details of who sued and when, not on the merits of the case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The timeline of this suit started before the second Trump administration \u2014 in late 2023 when three states, Missouri, Kansas, and Idaho, decided to challenge the relaxed policies surrounding mifepristone, the abortion pill. Under Barack Obama, the FDA dramatically changed how the drug was regulated, allowing it \u201cto be used through 10 weeks of pregnancy, be prescribed to minors, and be [dispensed] by health care providers via telehealth.\u201d So the idea that the Trump administration would be on the opposite side of pro-lifers in demanding stricter guidelines, especially after\u00a0new research<\/a>\u00a0showed higher complications from the drug, was cause for great alarm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, if this is suddenly a \u201cstates\u2019 rights\u201d issue, as the president and others wrongly suggest, shouldn\u2019t they at least let those states challenge the government\u2019s policies as they see fit? Not to mention, as Family Research Council President Tony Perkins has argued, \u201cYou cannot say you support the right of states to have pro-life laws \u2014 but then have a federal policy that allows the abortion pill to be mailed into the states,\u201d which is what local leaders are currently struggling to reconcile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With almost\u00a0two-thirds<\/a>\u00a0of abortions carried out through mifepristone, there\u2019s more reason than ever to scrutinize the protocol around the drug, FRC\u2019s Mary Szoch insisted to The Washington Stand. \u201cThe abortion drug is killing thousands of unborn children and maiming their mothers in the process, which is why the administration has said officials would examine the safety of the drug and look at any new data on it,\u201d she said, referring to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy\u2019s comments during his confirmation hearing. Her hope, she explained, \u201cis that this is not a sign that the Trump administration will not do anything to protect women and their unborn children from mifepristone but simply a sign that this is not\u00a0how<\/em>\u00a0they will do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just last week, Szoch emphasized, \u201cthe FDA received new data showing that over one-in-10 women suffer a serious complication following an abortion. Over the course of the last several months, New York has stomped on the rights of Louisiana and Texas to protect mothers from abortion. This state that weaponized the government against President Trump is now weaponizing the government against pro-life states. This cannot be allowed to continue.\u201d Lawsuit or no lawsuit, she pointed out, \u201cThe Trump administration can take swift action to reexamine the safety of mifepristone \u2014 which, if examined properly, would result in its removal from the market. What drug does anyone know that has remained on the market after causing serious side effects for over 10% of women?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, conservatives like Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) are trying to parse what the administration is doing. On \u201cWashington Watch<\/a>\u201d last week, the former state attorney general admitted he was \u201cjust stunned\u201d by the DOJ\u2019s push to abolish the case. \u201cIt\u2019s really a question of: Are voters going to be able to set the policy and protect life in their states or not? And the position of the Biden administration [was], it doesn\u2019t matter [how] voters vote anywhere. It doesn\u2019t matter what state legislatures do. The Biden DOJ and the Biden FDA said we\u2019re going to allow providers to mail in chemical abortion drugs into every state, no matter what. If your state restricts it, it doesn\u2019t matter. We\u2019re still going to mail in the abortion drugs, and now women can take them under the Biden rules without any physician supervision, any physician help, [or] assistance. It\u2019s incredibly dangerous,\u201d Hawley warned, \u201cand it also totally cuts the legs out from under the Dobbs ruling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even Hawley, who served as a clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts, is struggling to understand this manaeuver from the president\u2019s team. \u201cI don\u2019t know why the current Department of Justice would defend [the Biden-era] rule. It seems to me to be totally antithetical to the president\u2019s position during the campaign and also to the Supreme Court\u2019s Dobbs ruling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, one source of legitimate frustration from pro-lifers is that the Trump administration doesn\u2019t need the courts to do what Americans in red states have been demanding since his first day: enforce the decades-old Comstock Act that bans states from sending anything that causes an abortion through the mail. As far as Hawley is concerned, \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what needs to happen.\u201d The reasons are simple, he explained. \u201cAlmost 11% of women who take this drug experienced a serious adverse event [as in a] life-threatening event \u2014 emergency room visits, hemorrhaging. This is a huge number, a huge number,\u201d he repeated. \u201cIt shows that the drug is not safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s exactly why, since it was introduced, it\u2019s come with strict safety protocols. \u201cDoctors have to prescribe it, doctors have to administer it,\u201d Hawley underscored. \u201cThey have to be available to their patients to help them in the event of a serious health complication. Biden got rid of all that, and I think this administration could do a world of good by putting those safety restrictions back into place immediately. It\u2019s a matter of life and death, literally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So much so that Hawley wrote to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and asked that she review their position and change it. \u201cThey need to be pushing to allow voters and states to defend life,\u201d the Missourian said, \u201cand they certainly shouldn\u2019t be in court defending the Biden administration\u2019s rules. \u2026 I continue to push the FDA to put back in place these safety regulations in light of this new data that we have. It is absolutely necessary. It is absolutely vital that they do this ASAP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the president\u2019s argument that this is a states\u2019 rights issue, the reality is that if the government is allowing the abortion pill to be mailed anywhere \u2014 \u201ccircumventing red states\u2019 pro-life laws,\u201d as Perkins put it \u2014 it\u2019s a federal issue. \u201cYou can\u2019t have it both ways,\u201d he stressed. \u201cYou can\u2019t say that you support the right of states to protect the unborn and their mothers, and at the same time have a policy that allows these abortion pills to be sent into the state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which is why, Hawley chimed in, that Biden agreed to let the drug be sent through the mail in the first place. \u201cThey did not want anybody deciding to restrict abortion in any way. They didn\u2019t want anybody protecting life \u2014 not any voter, not any legislature, not Congress, nobody. So they created this regime where it just doesn\u2019t matter what voters say. Voters can vote to say \u2026 \u2018We don\u2019t want there to be abortion at all in our state, or we don\u2019t want there to be abortion after X number of weeks.\u2019\u201d None of that matters under the Biden administration \u2014 and now, under Trump\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the day, Szoch reiterated, there\u2019s a lot that can be done. \u201cThe Trump administration is one of law and order and of fighting to make America safe and great. Removing mifepristone\u2019s approval, or at minimum enforcing the Comstock Act, is right in line with their agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Suzanne Bowdey, originally published May 12, 2025, The Washington Stand As far back as last year\u2019s\u00a0Republican National Convention, Americans have watched with surprise at the mixed messages from Donald Trump on abortion. The man widely considered the most pro-life president in history has sent confusing signals since campaigning for a second term. And unfortunately…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34076,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nHawley 'Stunned' by DOJs Sudden Shift on Key Abortion Pill Case - Cincinnati Right to Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/hawley-stunned-by-dojs-sudden-shift-on-key-abortion-pill-case\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hawley 'Stunned' by DOJs Sudden Shift on Key Abortion Pill Case - Cincinnati Right to Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Suzanne Bowdey, originally published May 12, 2025, The Washington Stand As far back as last year\u2019s\u00a0Republican National Convention, Americans have watched with surprise at the mixed messages from Donald Trump on abortion. 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