Blanche pledges action on stopping mail order mifepristone
The Hill · C · trust 52/100
Comments: by Nathaniel Weixel - 07/15/26 5:29 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Nathaniel Weixel - 07/15/26 5:29 PM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING Acting attorney general Todd Blanche pledged on Wednesday to take action to stop abortion medication from being available through the mail.
Blanche committed to Republican senators he would prioritize taking action on mifepristone if confirmed but declined to go into specifics.
He said the Trump administration opposes a Biden-era policy that allowed the abortion pill mifepristone to be sent through the mail, and suggested the Department of Justice could review it.
“You know, I’ve seen video myself of what appears to be pills coming even from overseas to young women, and doesn’t matter who applies for it, anybody can get it. There’s no instructions; they just come dumped out of a little plastic bag, and and it’s wrong,” Blanche continued. “And I very much commit our resources to stopping this.”
Medication abortion is the most common pregnancy termination method, and abortion opponents have grown frustrated with the wide availability of mifepristone, which is typically used as part of a two-drug combination for medication abortion.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned , the Biden administration in 2023 permanently ended an in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone.
Mail-order pharmacies, combined with blue state “shield laws” protecting clinicians from prosecution, have helped women maintain access even as conservative states have banned or severely limited access to abortion clinics.
The Trump administration has left those Biden-era regulations in place, keeping the issue out of the political spotlight but angering anti-abortion lawmakers and advocates.
Republican senators also pushed Blanche to commit to settling an ongoing lawsuit with Louisiana, which sued the Food and Drug Administration over mail order mifepristone.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit is set to hear arguments on the case in September.
Anti-abortion groups have mounted a pressure campaign to stop DOJ from defending the Biden policy; the department in legal filings has asked courts to dismiss or pause state lawsuits, in part because the Food and Drug Administration is conducting a safety review of mifepristone.
“We are not in any way defending what Biden and what his administration did,” Blanche said.
“For the first time in a decade, HHS and the FDA are actually taking a real look at what’s happening with some of these abortion pills and whether they’re actually safe or not,” Blanche added.
The status and timeline of the FDA review are unclear. An administration official said it’s likely to take six months to complete, but initial results could be released earlier.
But Blanche wouldn’t comment on litigation strategy.
“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 were wrong,” Blanche said.
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