Liberty Counsel and Liberty Counsel Action, as part of a 50 pro-life leader coalition, released a letter calling on FDA Commissioner nominee Dr. Heidi Overton to commit to restoring abortion pill safeguards that existed prior to the Biden administration while the FDA completes its ongoing safety review of the drug.

The letter argues that the relaxed safety restrictions of mifepristone, such as no longer requiring an in-person doctor visit and allowing interstate mail-order prescriptions, poses significant safety concerns and undermines state abortion laws.

The letter reads:

“Dr. Overton’s confirmation hearing provides an important opportunity for her to make clear what she plans to do about the FDA’s extremely permissive policy governing mifepristone. 

“There are good reasons the FDA policy should not be this permissive.

“First, there are serious concerns about the safety of the drug. As just one example, a recent study found that nearly 11 percent of women taking mifepristone have a serious “adverse event” within 45 days of taking it.

“Second, the permissiveness of the current policy is increasing the risk of abuse, especially by men who seek to force women to have abortions without their consent or knowledge. By allowing mifepristone to be obtained without an in-person medical visit, the current FDA policy makes it more difficult to screen vulnerable women outside the presence of potential abusers.

“Third, mail-order abortion is undermining state laws enacted to protect unborn life and women.”

Despite pro-life laws in at least 20 states, abortion numbers continue to rise due to the Biden administration removing the in-person dispensing requirement and shield laws in pro-abortion states protecting abortionists mailing abortion drugs into pro-life states, noted the letter.

“The FDA is central to this system because it is the federal agency responsible for the approval and protocol governing mifepristone, the most common drug used to kill children in the womb and the only drug designed with abortion as its primary purpose,” reads the letter. “We are told that the FDA is conducting an ongoing study of mifepristone. However, that study has supposedly been ongoing for nearly two years. The question is straightforward: Will Dr. Overton at least agree to revert to the policy in place before the Biden administration, a policy that provided at least some minimal safeguards and medical oversight for women until that elusive review is complete?”

The letter also lists a series of questions that should be answered during Dr. Overton’s confirmation hearing September 24, 2026, before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

The questions include:

• Will she immediately restore the safeguards that existed before the Biden administration while the FDA completes its review of mifepristone?
• Will she decisively end the Biden-era protocol for mifepristone rather than continue allowing this dangerous drug to be dispensed under the current regimen?
• Will she investigate the adverse events associated with mifepristone and ensure that FDA policy is based on a rigorous examination of the drug’s impact on women?
• How will she address a mail-order-abortion system that enables abusers to obtain abortion drugs and use them against women without their knowledge or consent?
• How will the FDA address the interstate distribution of mifepristone that is undermining the laws of states seeking to protect unborn life and women? 

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “President Trump’s FDA has not yet restored the abortion pill’s safety restrictions and continues to abide by Biden-era policies on chemical abortions. The abortion pill cruelly kills innocent babies in the womb and harms women. Mail-order abortion drugs circumvent pro-life laws designed to protect women and babies. The FDA needs to end mail-order abortion drugs and become protectors of life rather than purveyors of harm.”