President Donald Trump is ready to fire Food and Drug Administration administrator Marty Makary to assuage anti-abortion groups who have aggressively complained about his failure to aggressively restrict access to the drug mifepristone as a way of preventing women from easily terminating unwanted pregnancies.
An administration official confirmed to The Independent that the president has approved a plan to remove him from his role as the country’s top drug regulator, though no action has been taken against Makary at this time.
CNN reported on Friday that top White House officials are schedule to meet with anti-abortion activists who have spent weeks calling for Makary’s ouster over the months since the FDA approved a generic version of mifepristone that will make the drug less expensive and potentially more accessible for women seeking abortions.
At the time, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, described the “reckless” decision by the FDA to expand the availability of abortion drugs as “unconscionable” because the medication “take[s] the lives of unborn children, place[s] women and underage girls at serious risk, empower[s] abusers, and trample[s] the pro-life laws enacted by states across the nation.”
The drug, which is used in combination with misoprostol to bring about a medical abortion during pregnancy, has been approved for use in the United States for a quarter-century under the brand name Mifeprex.
Since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision allowing states to ban abortion and force women to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, the medication has become a lifeline for women in states where abortion is not legal because it can be prescribed by telemedicine and shipped to patients for use in the privacy of their homes.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court restored access to the drug nationwide after a conservative federal appeals court abruptly cut off access by telehealth last week. The high court’s emergency relief will expire May 11, setting up yet another high-profile legal battle for abortion rights at the nation’s highest court.
Without the telehealth access that is currently protected by the court’s order, patients across the country would be forced to travel to a health center to pick up a mifepristone pillin person — a journey that could be hundreds of miles for people living in states where abortion is banned.
Should Trump follow through on firing Makary, it will leave yet another important health agency without a permanent head.
Trump’s administration has been without a Surgeon General since he was sworn in last year because he has withdrawn his first three picks amid opposition from various factions of his party and pressure from senators. The Centers for Disease Control has been without a permanent leader for months, and the FDA’s vaccine regulator is leaderless as well.
