In Wake Of FDA Hearings On Mifepristone, Michigan Doctor Raises Alarm On Limiting Access

Michigan Advance

February 12, 2026

After a closed-door hearing with Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, U.S. Senate Republicans are renewing calls to limit access to the abortion pill mifepristone.

Dr. Rob Davidson, an emergency physician in western Michigan and the executive director of the national Committee to Protect Health Care, criticized the hearing and raised concerns about the attempts to limit access to the medication.

“The FDA’s mandate is clear: follow the evidence,” he said. “The evidence here is clear and compelling. Mifepristone has been rigorously studied, monitored, and safely used by millions of patients in the United States and around the world for more than 25 years.”

The FDA is reviewing the drug’s safety, but Republicans in Washington say the agency is not taking the matter seriously and that the review should fall to Congress. Mifepristone was first approved by the FDA in 2000, and while there can be serious complications, those are rare and, when taken alongside misoprostol, which induces uterine cramps, it is generally considered a safe way to access abortion services.

“I think that this safety study is a dead end,” Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, told POLITICO. “I just think that the FDA is not serious about it. I don’t think that they’re proceeding with any sense of urgency whatsoever. If they’re really proceeding at all. I frankly can’t tell.”

Hawley also told POLITICO that Makary did not give legislators a timeline for completion of the review, explain what the audit would entail or disclose whether it had begun yet.

Davidson added that the statements coming from Hawley and a number of his Republican colleagues are not about science or safety, as they refuse to wait for the FDA’s review process to be complete.

“Targeting mifepristone access has always been a calculated backdoor attempt to ban abortion nationwide,” he said. “Political interference in the regulatory process threatens doctors’ ability to make evidence-based decisions for our patients, whether that is to prescribe mifepristone, insulin, or blood pressure medication. Patients and providers deserve clarity, transparency, and continued access to safe, FDA-approved care.”

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