Unlikely group calls for FDA chief to be fired

Martin Makary, head of the Food and Drug Administration, is under fire from both ends of the ideological spectrum for allegedly rejecting the highly controversial safety review of the abortion pill mifepristone.

A handful of national anti-abortion organizations called for the commissioner’s firing this week after a bombshell Bloomberg News report. Makary is delaying an evaluation of mifepristone until after the 2026 midterm elections, the outlet reported Monday, citing people familiar with the review.

Following a pressure campaign from anti-abortion groups, Makary and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in June that they would conduct a new evaluation of mifepristone despite the drug’s 25-year safety record.

Those same anti-abortion groups are now deeply upset that the review is reportedly being delayed. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, one of the largest anti-abortion groups in the country, called for Makary to be fired.

“Enough is enough: FDA Commissioner Makary should be fired immediately,” Dannenfelser said in a statement. “…Commissioner Makary is seriously undermining the pro-life credentials of President Trump and Vice President Vance and their position that states should have the right to enact and enforce pro-life protections. Makary must go.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence, a devout anti-abortion leader, also demanded that Makary be fired in a social media post published Wednesday. “For the safety of women, for the unborn, and for the right to life, it is time to fire Makary from the FDA,” Pence wrote.

Lila Rose, president of the national anti-abortion organization Live Action, called for Makary to resign, writing on social media that if he “does not act as head of the FDA to protect children and mothers, he should be fired.”

An HHS spokesperson told Bloomberg that “claims that the FDA is delaying this review for political purposes are baseless.” Neither HHS nor the FDA immediately responded to News themezone’s request for comment.

The White House defended Makary in a statement to News themezone. “FDA Commissioner Marty Makary is working diligently to ensure that Americans have the best possible study on mifepristone,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told News themezone.

“The White House maintains the utmost confidence in Commissioner Makary, whose leadership at the FDA has delivered and continues to deliver historic victory after historic victory for the American people… Misinformed attacks on Commissioner Makary by people outside the Administration will not change these facts.”

via News

Marc Short, political adviser and former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, called for Kennedy to resign. saying “accountability starts at the top” and claims that “he lied to the pro-life movement.”

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who has consistently and very publicly pushed HHS to review mifepristone, sent a letter to Makary on Wednesday urging him to answer specific questions about the timeline for the review.

“It is unclear whether an independent security review is underway,” Hawley said. wrote in the letter. “This is totally unacceptable. I cannot emphasize enough the danger of playing politics with women’s health.”

It’s hard to miss the irony of Hawley’s statement. The decision to review mifepristone was largely based on a junk science report published by an anti-abortion think tank. The think tank is a member of the advisory board of Project 2025, a far-right political agenda that details how to ban abortion nationwide, including by restricting or banning mifepristone with the help of Trump appointees at the FDA.

If true, the report that Makary is delaying the mifepristone review until after the midterm elections is pretty conclusive evidence that the entire safety review itself is politically motivated. Republicans know that restricting access to abortion is generally unpopular across the country, even in many red states, and restricting access to the abortion pill is likely to hurt their chances in the midterm elections.

The junk science report claims to be the “largest known study on the abortion pill” and concludes that mifepristone has a higher rate of adverse events than previous studies have found. But research scientists previously said News themezone that the article cannot be defined as a scientific study because it was not peer-reviewed and did not include its data set, an unusual decision that makes it impossible for other researchers to fully evaluate the methodology and integrity of the results.

The Center for Reproductive Rights defendant the Trump administration in September, arguing that the chronology of events leading up to Makary’s decision to review mifepristone “suggests political interference.” The administration’s apparent reliance on the junk science report instead of dozens of long-standing peer-reviewed studies on mifepristone “suggests that anti-abortion ideology is dictating the drug regulatory process.” saying Rachana Desai Martin, CRR US Program Director

Years of research show that mifepristone is extremely safe and effective when used in a two-drug regimen with another medication called misoprostol. When used together, mifepristone and misoprostol are more than 95% effective and safer than Tylenol. Major medical groups including The American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have repeatedly said that mifepristone is safe and should be accessible to patients nationwide.

“Mifepristone is safe and effective. Period. We know it and the FDA knows it,” Planned Parenthood President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement Wednesday. “From the beginning, a review of mifepristone is exactly what we expect from an administration that is trying to make it difficult for everyone, everywhere to get health care, including abortion, when they need it.”

“His opposition to mifepristone is not rooted in science, but in his desire to strip people of their ability to make their own decisions about their bodies, their lives, and their futures.”

This article has been updated to include comments from former Vice President Mike Pence.