Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary said he has “no preconceived plans” to change the policies on mifepristone, an abortion pill that ends pregnancy before 10 weeks, in an interview with POLITICO.
“We have an ongoing review of safety data on mifepristone, which is a requirement from the prior administrations,” he said in an interview on “The Conversation with Dasha Burns,” which was taped on Wednesday. “You always have to be open-minded. You have to listen to different opinions and make decisions based on what you think is the right thing to do.”
After Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) criticized the use of the drug, saying Democrats had “stripped away basic safeguards,” Makary said he was “committed to conducting a review” of the data.
Hawley and other critics particularly honed in on the ability to receive mifepristone by mail without an in-person doctor’s appointment.
In the interview with POLITICO, Makary said he did not have plans to make “any changes” to current mifepristone policies, but that he would “continue to listen to folks that say they have concerns” of forced administration of the drug to women outside of a doctor’s authority, as well as potential drug-drug interactions that could impact mifepristone’s safety.
“Usually when a Republican nominee or a conservative is in office, then there’s a level of scrutiny that you just don’t see in prior administrations,” he said.
