Major Pro-Life Group Demands FDA Commissioner Be ‘Fired Immediately’ for Slow-Walking Abortion Pill Review

By: Kamden Mulder, originally published December 9, 2025, The National Review

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is calling for Marty Makary, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner, to be fired from his position, citing concerns that he “slow-walked” a study into the effects of abortion drugs on women.

Makary and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised lawmakers and state attorneys general that the FDA was in the process of compiling a safety study on the chemical abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol. Yet Makary told officials to stall the review, Bloomberg reported.

“Enough is enough: FDA Commissioner Makary should be fired immediately. The FDA is doing nothing while every single day abortion drugs take the lives of children, put women and girls at serious risk, empower abusers and trample state pro-life laws,” Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. “The FDA needs a new commissioner who will immediately reinstate in-person dispensing as it existed under President Trump’s first term and immediately conduct a comprehensive study.”

Studies have shown women frequently experience adverse effects from taking chemical abortion drugs; three-quarters of emergency room visits post-chemical abortion are coded as severe or critical, according to peer-reviewed research from the Charlotte Lozier Institute. Women were more likely to experience a severe or critical-coded visit after taking abortion drugs than those who had surgical abortions or had to go to the hospital after a live birth.

Complications from taking mifepristone and misoprostol can include hemorrhaging, infection, sepsis, and even death.

“FDA’s comprehensive scientific reviews take the time necessary to get the science right, and that is what Dr. Makary is ensuring as part of the Department’s commitment to gold-standard science and evidence-based reviews,” HHS told National Review in a statement.

The FDA approved a generic version of mifepristone and misoprostol in October, without reversing the Biden administration’s abortion drug mail-order policy, which allowed women to order the drugs online without an in-person medical visit. Women can acquire and take these drugs without a sonogram to confirm how far long the pregnancy is or to confirm that their pregnancy is not ectopic. Currently, abortion drugs account for 63 percent of abortions.

“Commissioner Makary is severely undermining President Trump and Vice President Vance’s pro-life credentials and their position that states should have the right to enact and enforce pro-life protections. Makary must go,” Dannenfelser said.

Last month, 175 lawmakers sent a letter to Makary and Kennedy, demanding that the FDA reinstate common-sense safeguards on abortion drugs. At a minimum, the letter called for reinstating mandatory in-person visits before mifepristone and misoprostol can be prescribed.

Reports continue to emerge of pregnant women who are unknowingly drugged by their abusers, who do not want the women to carry through with their pregnancies. One report includes an Ohio medical resident who was indicted on six felony counts for allegedly drugging his pregnant girlfriend. He allegedly unlawfully acquired the pills and forced them down her throat.

An October McLaughlin & Associates survey found that nine out of ten voters support more transparency on the risks of taking chemical abortion pills, including adding FDA labels to the drugs themselves to include the real symptoms and side effects women experience after taking the drugs.

Kamden Mulder is a William F. Buckley Jr. Fellow in Political Journalism. She is a graduate of Hillsdale College.