{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415126", "Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) report found serious adverse events from mifepristone\u2014the abortion pill\u2014are approximately 22 times more frequent than the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently recognizes175 members of Congress urge Trump administration to investigate underreported serious harm to women from abortion pill", "2025-11-24", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Rep. Diana Harshbarger, Pharm.D. (R-TN), and more than 170 Republican lawmakers, including the entirety of House GOP leadership, released a new letter to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Martin Makary, MD, urging a robust FDA investigation and review of the safety standards and health risks associated with the popular chemical abortion pill, mifepristone.\n\nThe November 20th letter, co-signed by 175 Republican lawmakers, including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, and Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa C. McClain, requests that Secretary Kennedy and Commissioner Makary aggressively investigate the \u201cdeleterious and grossly underreported effects on women of the drug,\u201d as well as immediately \u201creinstate the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone.\u201d\n\nThe letter notes that President Trump \u201chas done more to advance a culture of life and the protection of women and children from the violence of abortion than any president before him\u201d and condemns the Biden-Harris administration\u2019s \u201cegregious action to remove critical safeguards that once applied to abortion drugs,\u201d including ending the in-person dispensing rule for mifepristone and implementing a no-contact, mail-in abortion process, as well as \u201cthe FDA\u2019s approval of a new abortion drug generic in September 2025.\u201d\n\nRep. Chris Smith, Co-Chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, said: \u201cThe Biden-Harris administration\u2019s blatant disregard for the innumerable health risks and complications caused by mifepristone\u2014the baby poison pill\u2014has been the status quo for far too long. The carelessness of Biden\u2019s FDA has taken and harmed thousands of lives, the unborn and their mothers alike. Now that President Trump\u2014the most pro-life president in U.S. history\u2014has taken the executive helm, we are confident that his effective and life-affirming administration will work to undo the Biden-Harris administration\u2019s dangerous and ill-conceived policies with reference to the increased accessibility and reduced medical oversight of chemical abortion drugs. I look forward to working with Secretary Kennedy and Commissioner Makary to protect women and children from the violence of abortion by strengthening the safety standards of mifepristone and other chemical abortion pills.\u201d\n\nRep. Diana Harshbarger, Vice Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, said: \u201cAs a pharmacist, I\u2019ve always believed women deserve the full truth when it comes to their health. Recent findings raise real questions about the safety of chemical abortion pills like mifepristone, and Americans deserve straight answers about the risks involved. No medication with known complications should be handed out without proper medical oversight and follow-up care. It\u2019s time for Congress and federal regulators to take a hard look at the latest evidence and update our laws and regulations to reflect what we now know.\u201d\n\nCiting shocking statistics from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), the authors of the letter report that \u201cserious adverse events from mifepristone are approximately 22 times more frequent than the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently recognizes,\u201d and that approximately \u201c10.93 percent of women experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious or life-threatening adverse event\u201d following a mifepristone abortion.\n\nGiven the alarming volume of adverse reactions to the popular abortion drug, the Republican lawmakers argue that in addition to conducting a thorough investigation and extensive safety review into mifepristone and its concerning complications, the HHS and FDA must reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement for the drug and end the option to request and receive abortion medications through the mail.\n\n\u201cThese [abortion] drugs are sent across state lines with no physician oversight, and without appropriate screening to ensure that bad actors are not secretly poisoning women without their knowledge or forcing women to take abortion drugs against their will\u2014a clear indication that radical pro-abortion activists care more about protecting abortion access than about upholding women\u2019s health and safety,\u201d the lawmakers wrote.\n\n\u201cToday, abortion drugs account for nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the United States; there are over six hundred thousand abortions committed using these drugs each year. The Biden FDA\u2019s reckless, no-contact, mail-order abortion scheme is to blame. Abortion providers are reaping increased profits, while women and their unborn children suffer irreparable harm.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415126"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9921998716890812, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}