RFK Jr. vows new study that could restrict abortion medication

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Sep 25, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is vowing to carry out a new government study of abortion medication that could lead to further restrictions on the drug that is the main method of ending pregnancies nationwide.

The controversial Trump administration official told a group of Republican states that the Food and Drug Administration will probe whether mifepristone should face new guidelines for use in abortions even though it has been declared safe and effective for years.

“(We) will conduct a study of the safety of the current (safety protocol) in order to determine whether modifications are necessary,” Kennedy wrote in the letter dated last week and first reported by ABC. “(It will) review of the evidence, including real-world outcomes and evidence, relating to the safety and efficacy of the drug.”

Mifepristone is used in more than 60% of all abortions carried out in the U.S. and is by far the most common method of pregnancy termination, especially in most Republican states that have effectively outlawed surgical abortion.

One of the key changes could be to require doctors to see patients in person to prescribe mifepristone, which would amount to a ban on sending the drug by mail.

That would prevent women in red states from ending pregnancies in any way unless they were willing and able to leave their home state to see a doctor.

Some red states like Texas have also outlawed receiving abortion medication by mail from doctors in other states, but Democratic states have countered with shield laws protecting doctors from being prosecuted in other states.

Kennedy, who has mostly drawn criticism for his skepticism about vaccines, cited a questionable study carried out by an anti-abortion group to claim that mifepristone may be more dangerous than previously thought.

Mainstream medical groups say the drug has been used millions of times by American women and has proven safe and effective over decades of use.

Abortion-rights activists say the push for new studies of mifepristone is a thinly veiled effort to impose anti-abortion policy across the nation, even in blue states like New York, which has passed laws explicitly protecting a abortion rights.

“This is political interference designed to rip away our freedoms,” said Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom for All.

The action comes as a conservative federal judge in Texas is considering whether to revive a lawsuit filed by anti-abortion groups aiming to ban mifepristone nationwide. The Supreme Court ordered a previous suit dismissed on a legal technicality but did not rule on the substance of the case.