RFK Jr ‘open’ to some restrictions on abortion pill: Josh Hawley

Hawley, a staunch supporter of the pro-life movement, said Kennedy said he was open to the policy after the two spoke privately in a meeting. The former independent presidential candidate turned Trump supporter was meeting with the senators whom he must convince to confirm his nomination.

"I signaled my view that it was my hope that he would return to what was the rule under President Trump, which is that mifepristone should have in-person dispensing requirements, and he said that he was open to that,” Hawley told reporters Wednesday. “He indicated to me he wanted to support the president’s pro-life agenda.”

Hawley said the ease with which abortion pills in bulk can be “mailed anywhere” is “a huge problem.” The senator said Kennedy “acknowledged that.”

“He said that he would follow President Trump’s direction on this,” Hawley told reporters. “I certainly hope that means that they will return mifepristone to the earlier rules and allow the voters to decide on the issue.”

The mifepristone abortion pill was only available if a recipient went in person to a doctor. That rule was relaxed and then removed during the Covid pandemic by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which then said the in-person rule would not be reintroduced at the end of the Covid. After the Supreme Court of the United States allowed states to decide on whether to make abortion illegal or not, it became even easier to get the abortion pill, with some pharmacy chains now offering it.

The issue of using the mail to dispense the abortion pill is at the heart of a lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is suing a New York doctor because she prescribed the abortion pill to a Texas woman and mailed them to her. It could be the first time that a pro-life state, where the abortion pill is illegal, has challenged a pro-choice state over doctors being allowed to prescribe and furnish the pill by mail outside of their state.

Kennedy said he supported the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion but has also noted that “every abortion is a tragedy” and that fewer abortions should be a national goal.

During his journey down the halls of Capitol Hill, Kennedy also met with Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), who offered his assessment of Kennedy’s abortion views, saying the nominee “was pretty clear that the first Trump administration HHS was a pro-life entity, and it will be again,” according to NOTUS.

Kennedy said during an April interview, that he was as concerned about the abortion pill as he is “worried about every pharmaceutical drug.” Although he said he had no intention of removing the FDA’s edict concerning pharmacies dispensing the pill, he said the drug’s potential side effects did concern him.