Missouri Senator Josh Hawley introduced the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act on March 11, 2026, a bill that would revoke the FDA's approval of mifepristone — the drug used in approximately 63 percent of all U.S. abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute — and classify its distribution for pregnancy termination as a federal violation. The legislation, which Hawley described as necessary because "only Congress can withdraw the FDA approval rendered way back in the Clinton administration for this drug that has proved to be inherently dangerous and inherently prone to abuse," would also create a private right of action enabling women who claim to have been harmed by mifepristone to sue manufacturers including Danco Laboratories. Fox News covered the bill prominently, quoting Hawley's characterization of mifepristone as "inherently dangerous" and citing research from the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Hawley cited an EPPC study claiming that more than one in ten women who take mifepristone experience "infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious or life-threatening adverse event" — a figure he presented as 22 times higher than the FDA's approved label. Fox News reported the bill's introduction and hosted a segment featuring Hawley outlining its provisions. However, NPR-affiliated KCUR radio in Kansas City confirmed the bill's introduction and presented the scientific counterarguments in detail: the Guttmacher Institute researcher cited in the report said mifepristone is backed by "decades of solid data" and that Hawley's claims are "not rooted in evidence." Planned Parenthood's chief medical officer told KCUR that the EPPC study uses flawed methodology and that serious complications including bleeding and infection occur in "much less than 1 percent" of cases. The FDA continues to classify mifepristone as "safe and effective."

The political terrain around the bill is telling. Senate Republican leadership — including Majority Leader John Thune — has not endorsed the legislation, and the White House has not issued any statement supporting it. Several anti-abortion advocacy groups who had pushed the Trump administration to restrict mifepristone expressed frustration in a Federalist article noting that the administration had approved a second generic version of mifepristone in October 2025 and was slow-walking a promised FDA safety review. The Hill reported that the bill had no co-sponsors at introduction and faces an uncertain path to the Senate floor. Anti-abortion groups noted that the FDA's ongoing safety review, required by a settlement with anti-abortion states, has not yet produced any results that would justify restricting the drug.

The Hawley bill arrives in the context of a broader abortion-pill legal landscape: the Supreme Court dismissed a 2024 challenge to mifepristone on standing grounds, leaving the drug's approval intact. A separate case, Louisiana v. FDA, involves a challenge by Republican-led states to the Biden-era expansion of mifepristone access via telehealth. The DOJ sought to pause or dismiss that case, citing the ongoing FDA safety review. Legal analysts expect the FDA review — rather than legislative action — to be the more consequential battlefield over mifepristone's future access in the near term.