Overton Sidesteps Mifepristone Questions at FDA Hearing — SkimNews
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- Heidi Overton appeared before the Senate health committee for her FDA commissioner nomination and sidestepped questions about mifepristone so consistently that Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) received no answer when she asked Overton to name one thing the president had ever been wrong about, frustrating Republicans and Democrats alike.
- Mifepristone, used by an estimated 7.5 million Americans and recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for early pregnancy loss, still requires clinicians to be specially certified to prescribe it and pharmacies to join a unique registration system to dispense it.
- Anti-abortion groups cheered Overton's nomination, with the head of Americans United for Life saying he had spoken with her five or six times and predicting she would "expose this drug."
- The Supreme Court unanimously rejected a 2024 challenge to mifepristone's FDA approval in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine for lack of standing, but Louisiana continues pursuing restrictions on remote prescribing at the 5th Circuit.
- Overton acknowledged the FDA's internal safety study of mifepristone would "immediately be on [her] desk" and said she was eager to respond to Louisiana's anti-mifepristone litigation; the study is scheduled to finish after the midterms.
- About 30% of U.S. abortion patients now choose telehealth care, while the FDA has fired more than 3,000 staff in the past year and its last commissioner resigned after clashing with the White House.
Why it matters: If confirmed, Overton would lead the agency regulating a medication used by an estimated 7.5 million Americans at the same moment Louisiana is asking courts to end telemedicine prescribing — and the FDA's own safety review is timed to wrap up after the midterms, handing a new commissioner a runway to act before voters weigh in.
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