Sen. Josh Hawley Urges Trump AG Pick To Stop Beating Around Bush On Key Social Issue

Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley questioned acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the Trump administration not changing some Biden-era abortion policies at Wednesday's confirmation hearing.

Faith MillerJul 15, 20264 min read

Politics

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Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley questioned acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the Trump administration not changing some Biden-era abortion policies at Wednesday’s confirmation hearing.

Hawley pressed Blanche over the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) abortion pill regulations still in place from the Biden administration, stating that the “dramatic increase” in abortions in Missouri and nationwide since 2023 came after former President Joe Biden “contravened” pro-life states’ laws through FDA regulations.

The Biden-era FDA in 2021 removed the in-person requirement from abortion pill prescriptions so that health care providers can prescribe the abortion pills to patients completely online, according to the FDA website. The FDA finalized the removal of the in-person requirement in 2023.

“Under Joe Biden’s abortion rules, it doesn’t matter what your state law is, it doesn’t matter what the voters of my state do,” Hawley said. “You could just mail in this abortion drug–no prescription, no follow-up visits for the mother, no medical support at all.”

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Hawley proposed using FDA abortion pill rules from Trump’s first term while waiting for the FDA to review the current abortion pill rules, which he noted the FDA commissioner said “lacked adequate consideration.”

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“This gets to my original point, and I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about our litigation strategy here. Except to say that we want to get to a good result consistent with President Trump’s administrative directive and priorities, and we very much believe that the Biden rules are wrong. So, we’re continuing,” Blanche said.

Hawley told Blanche that Missouri, which has pro-life laws in place — including laws that limit the use of the abortion pill —went to court over Biden’s FDA pill regulations to defend Missouri state laws. During this litigation, Trump was inaugurated.

“That means that now, the state of Missouri, a Republican state, along with a number of other conservative Republican states, are in court against a Republican administration, fighting over Joe Biden’s abortion policy,” Hawley said.

Hawley asked Blanche for a solution to get out of this “mess” where red states are in court against a Republican administration.

“I don’t want to talk about litigation strategy here, it’s not appropriate. We are not defending what Biden did and will not. The FDA has a process that we’re letting them go forward in, and that — this is, again, in our briefing — takes a year. They’ve committed to do it in significantly less time than a year,” Blanche said. “And we will always–and when I say we, I’m not just saying the Department of Justice, I’m saying President Trump’s administration in its entirety–protect the life of the unborn and work with states to make sure we do that in the best way.”

When pressed further about a solution to these issues, Blanche told Hawley that the DOJ is trying to let the FDA “do their work” so that the lives of the unborn and states’ laws can be protected.

“Remember, we have to have studies that we can defend in court. Because we have to be able to say to a judge — probably in this district — that our change was not arbitrary and capricious,” Blanche said.

Hawley also brought up the concern of forced abortions using pills, as criminal charges for this have continued to compile across the nation. Hawley asked Blanche if the DOJ would consider devoting resources to work with states “to protect these women, to help states protect their laws, and to go after these criminals who are using Joe Biden’s policies to commit assault left, right, and center.”

“I very much commit to looking at that. I share your concerns,” Blanche said.

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