RFK Jr. Signals Brewing Attack On Abortion Pill Mifepristone
This is your TPM evening briefing.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed Thursday to a Senate committee that the Biden administration had hidden evidence of the danger of the abortion drug mifepristone — an age-old anti-abortion smear that gives the movement pretext to make the medicine difficult to obtain.
“During the Biden administration, they actually twisted the data to bury one of the safety signals,” he said, adding: “We’re gonna make sure that doesn’t happen anymore.”
Kennedy added that he’d discussed mifepristone’s safety with Commissioner of Food and Drugs Martin Makary “yesterday” and that the investigation was “progressing apace.”
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), one of the chamber’s staunchest anti-abortion zealots, nodded along, telling Kennedy to “follow the science” — which has long found mifepristone to be safe.
It’s less surprising that the Trump administration would weaponize the FDA against mifepristone than that it’s taken them so long to do so — perhaps a signal of the uncertainty around abortion politics. President Trump himself, never a particularly convincing anti-abortion warrior, has indicated that he already gave the movement its white whale in Dobbs, seemingly less enthused about risking further backlash.
Still, other prominent Republicans have glommed onto a recent paper trumpeting the dangers of mifepristone that has all the hallmarks of anti-abortion pseudo-science (vague terminology, a refusal to publish the underlying data, no peer review). Some speculated when it was published in April that the “study” would be key in the administration’s creation of a paper trail to justify adding regulations to the drug, if not trying to revoke its authorization altogether.
Red states, particularly Texas, have been less patient in their desire to outlaw abortion everywhere. On Wednesday, the Texas legislature passed a new bill that existentially threatens blue state shield laws, key to preserving abortion access in states under Democratic rule.
— Kate Riga
Some Republicans Did Not Let RFK Off the Hook
There was some anticipation around how Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA) might grill HHS Director RFK Jr. during his hearing before the committee this morning. Cassidy put out a statement last week sounding the alarm after the just-confirmed director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention was abruptly fired after disagreeing with RFK Jr. Cassidy then called for HHS’ Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) upcoming meeting to be postponed due to allegations surrounding the “lack of scientific process being followed” by the panel.
RFK Jr. fired all the members of ACIP this summer and overhauled the makeup of the committee, just months after promising Cassidy he would not do that. Cassidy gave a speech from the Senate floor earlier this year saying he had made an agreement with RFK Jr. — that he would vote to confirm the Kennedy as head of HHS if he did not make substantial changes to ACIP. Kennedy, of course, did just that.
During Thursday’s hearing, both Cassidy and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) grilled RFK Jr. about his changes to vaccine scheduling, his disparagement of the COVID-19 vaccine and his upheaval of ACIP.
— Nicole Lafond
House Won’t Extend Trump’s DC Occupation
The House does not plan to hold a vote on whether to extend President Trump’s 30-day takeover of Washington, D.C. so that he could make a big show of supposedly cracking down on crime and flexing power over the district’s Democratic leaders. Trump’s emergency order to federalize the D.C. police and send in National Guard troops to occupy the city expires on Sept. 10. Any effort to extend Trump’s domestic deployment would have been held up in the Senate because it would need to clear the filibuster and Senate Democrats have been saying they’d block it, but the House was expected to at least force Dems to vote on the matter. Per Politico:
Speaker Mike Johnson said as he left the House floor Thursday that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s announcement this week that she would coordinate with federal law enforcement on an indefinite basis going forward seemingly “resolved some of” the issues.
Bowser earlier this week suggested that she would welcome some federal law enforcement, such as FBI agents and U.S. Park Police, staying in D.C., but she has been critical of Trump’s occupation overall.
— Nicole Lafond
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