Memos & Media Guidance National
Memos & Media Guidance
MEMO: What The Latest Mifepristone Stories Reveal About the Failing Anti-Abortion Strategy
TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Reproductive Freedom for All
RE: What The Latest Mifepristone Stories Reveal About the Failing Anti-Abortion Strategy
DATE: December 17, 2025
What The Latest Mifepristone Stories Reveal About the Failing Anti-Abortion Strategy
Several major stories broke last week about mifepristone and medication abortion access. Alone, each is notable. Together, they tell an unmistakable story: anti-abortion extremists are losing ground. While the attacks are still threats to our freedoms that cannot be ignored, it’s increasingly clear that the evidence isn’t on their side—and the public isn’t, either.
Here’s what happened and why it matters:
1. Medication abortion is rising nationwide—even in the face of bans.
New data from the Society of Family Planning (reported by ABC News) shows an increase in telehealth-provided medication abortion care in the first half of 2025, including from shield-state providers who legally serve patients in ban states.
Why It Matters: Medication abortion provided through telehealth is one of the only ways that many people can access lifesaving abortion care in states where abortion is banned. Republicans know the potential that mifepristone has to increase access to care, so they’re trying to restrict this medication any way they can.
2. Faced with that reality, anti-abortion politicians are trying to force the FDA into action—and failing there, too.
Bloomberg broke the news that the FDA is delaying the release of its planned review of the mifepristone risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS). The agency’s public line is that it “needs more time.” Bloomberg reporting shows otherwise: the delay is political, timed to push the release until after the midterms.
Why It Matters: The science is clear. Mifepristone is safe and effective. The FDA cannot credibly implement the restrictions that anti-abortion politicians are demanding, and Trump’s hand-picked cronies are now walking back their attacks because they know how unpopular this issue is and how it will hurt Republicans at the ballot box.
3. Hawley and others are lashing out because they aren’t getting what they want.
Following the news of the FDA delay, Sen. Josh Hawley fired off public social media posts and sent a letter demanding answers from Commissioner Martin Makary.
Why It Matters: This all comes as we rapidly approach the expiration of the ACA enhanced premium tax credits, and millions of Americans’ health coverage hangs in the balance. Hawley’s Republican colleagues have been busy pushing dangerous coverage restrictions for abortion care and blocking a clean extension—and yet Hawley has found ample time to intervene in an FDA process that should be strictly science-driven. Hawley’s pressure campaign (which has anti-abortion groups’ fingerprints all over it) is part of a coordinated effort to politicize medication abortion access at every level of government. Oh, and another story this week reveals the White House’s anger at Hawley’s latest project—a new anti-abortion group.
4. Their other strategy—litigation—is collapsing under its own weight.
Florida and Texas filed a sweeping new lawsuit attempting to invalidate every major FDA approval and update to mifepristone, from 2000 to 2025. But their complaint is nearly identical to the language that already failed in their Missouri v. FDA intervention attempt.
Why It Matters: Facing the reality that banning mifepristone through regulation isn’t working, the antis are putting more of their energy into using the courts to get their way. As our friends at the ACLU said: “These lawsuits have nothing to do with the safety of this medication and everything to do with making it harder for people to get an abortion.” — Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project.
The bottom line: Medication abortion is safe, effective, and widely used. Access persists thanks to telehealth and shield laws. Anti-abortion politicians and organizations are losing in courts, agencies, and public opinion. Their agenda is unpopular and unraveling.
We are winning—and we’re not done. A person’s zipcode should not determine how difficult it is to get the care they need. We’ll keep fighting until reproductive freedom for all is a reality for everybody.
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For over 55 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.