WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is charged with protecting the health and safety of the American people. Yet Dr. Heidi Overton has publicly advocated for congressional restrictions on mifepristone, an FDA-approved medication that has been safely used for decades for abortion and miscarriage care. She has described medication abortion as “teleabortion” and “abortion-on-demand” and argued that Congress should strictly regulate mifepristone “to protect women and children.”
That is not a prescription for evidence-based health policy. It’s a prescription for politically motivated medical care.
Mifepristone is safe, effective, and an essential part of reproductive healthcare. Decisions about its use and regulation should be made by medical professionals and grounded in rigorous scientific evidence, not by politicians seeking to restrict abortion access.
Placing an outspoken opponent of medication abortion in charge of the agency responsible for regulating mifepristone raises profound concerns about the FDA’s scientific independence and its commitment to protecting patients.
Women -— and all people who need reproductive healthcare -— deserve an FDA that follows science, respects medical expertise, and puts health and well-being ahead of political agendas.
The Senate should reject Dr. Overton’s nomination.
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