It is impossible to care about women and their health if you cannot define what a woman is. That simple truth was put on full display at a recent Senate hearing aimed at exposing the dangers of chemical abortion. As the pro-life witnesses shared the threats that the unregulated chemical abortion pill poses to women’s safety and the myriad ways that the industry undermines state law and the will of the people, the opposing side struggled to answer simple questions, such as “can men get pregnant?”
As Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) stated at the hearing’s opening, the first rule of medicine is to do no harm. And yet, this hearing was necessary because every day, dangerous chemical abortion drugs are being sent directly to women’s front doors in the name of “reproductive care.” Due to their ease of accessibility, Mifepristone and its companion, Misoprostol, have become the number one way to obtain an abortion in the United States.
Abortion advocates often state that Mifepristone is just as safe as Tylenol or Viagra, a line repeated by the Committee’s ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). However, the facts do not bear that out. The FDA’s own black box label indicates that one in 25 women will end up in the emergency room after taking abortion drugs. Notably, neither Tylenol nor Viagra have a black box label. Other studies have shown that the rate of adverse events resulting from these pills is 20%, which is four times the complication rate of surgical abortion. Another study revealed that 1 in 10 women experienced serious medical complications after taking the drugs. Over 6% of cases resulted in an incomplete abortion, requiring follow-up surgery to remove the remaining tissue.
Dr. Monique Wubbenhorst, an OB-GYN with over 30 years of experience, pointed out that “most problems with Tylenol are associated with accidental or deliberate overdose. Mifepristone side effects are associated with routine prescribed use.”
This makes it even more inexplicable that these drugs can now be obtained without a pregnant woman first visiting a doctor, thanks to a rule change by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Biden Administration. The FDA argued that because studies showed that Mifepristone was safe to use, the requirement to see a doctor in-person prior to receiving a prescription for it was unnecessary. The studies it relied on were deeply flawed, however. The consequence of that poor decision is that these pills can now be obtained via a simple telehealth appointment or, in many cases, by filling out an online form. Women do not have to get an ultrasound to confirm the gestational date of their pregnancy or be tested for any other potential complications prior to taking these drugs.
One effect of this is that many pro-life states with abortion restrictions on the books are seeing an increase in the number of abortions, because these drugs are being mailed in from other states. Louisiana’s Attorney General, Liz Murrill, testified to this issue at the hearing. She highlighted that even though the legislature there enacted the will of the people by banning the use of these drugs for abortions in the state, providers in pro-abortion states are shipping them into Louisiana. So, despite laws that rigorously protect the unborn, Louisiana has seen an increase in abortions in the past few years. According to Murrill, over 900 illegal abortions took place in the state in 2025 alone. As she pointed out, the decision to get rid of the in-person requirement “was not a medically informed decision but a purely political one.” As more states moved to implement pro-life laws after the Dobbs decision, the FDA ensured that abortions could still be easily obtained in those states.
Far more egregious is the fact that we can’t know for sure that it is the women who are ordering these drugs. Instead, many times it is the boyfriend, abuser, or parent who coerces the woman into having an abortion. Murrill described a case where the mother of a pregnant 16-year-old did not want the burden of another baby in the house. The young girl had been planning a gender-reveal party but was instead forced, by her mother, to take the pills. The mother and clinic were both indicted. The doctor has also been indicted, but because he is in New York state, Gov. Kathy Hochul has blocked his extradition to stand trial in Louisiana.
Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Florida) decried the other side’s attempts to say that stories of coerced abortions are “gaslighting.” While still Attorney General of Florida, Moody was involved in the case of a woman who obtained abortion pills from out of state in a plot to murder the unborn child of her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend. And while Moody was a judge in her hometown, a man ordered abortion pills, put them in a bottle he labeled “antibiotics,” and coerced his girlfriend into having an unwanted abortion by taking the mislabeled drugs. As chemical abortions become more normalized, these tragic stories are happening with increasing frequency.
Between the physical risks that come with taking these medications and the high potential for abuse, it is unfathomable that these pills are virtually unregulated. The Left claims to care about women, and yet their promotion and protection of Mifepristone is a stark contradiction of that claim. But the most viral part of the hearing reveals why it is that the pro-abortion side cannot truly act in the best interest of women—they refuse to acknowledge biological differences between men and women.
When it was Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-Missouri) turn to question the witnesses, he asked Dr. Nisha Verma, a double board-certified OB-GYN and the expert witness for the Democrats, a simple question – can men get pregnant? Instead of replying with “No,” Dr. Verma fumbled her way through an explanation of how she “takes care of patients with many identities.” When Hawley asked again, she again refused to answer and instead said that “Yes-no questions like this are a political tool.” After repeatedly asking what should have been an easy question for someone with a medical degree, Hawley was unable to get Dr. Verma to affirm that only women, and not men, can get pregnant.
The base requirement for caring for women and their health is an understanding that they are different from men. They have unique, God-given attributes that men do not share, chiefly the potential for motherhood. Anyone who denies the unique value of women is incapable of providing them with the care they deserve. So, it should be no surprise that advocates of the abortion pill are not alarmed by the physical risks it poses to women or the way that it is used for abuse and coercion. They refuse to regard the differences between men and women as sacred and beautiful.
Until that changes, it is incumbent on the Administration to, at the very least, restore the in-person dispensing requirement, and put an end to the practice of shipping these drugs across state lines via the postal service. We continue to pray and work towards a nation that protects mothers and the innocent lives they carry.
