While conservatives are working to re-implement stringent safeguards around the abortion drug, progressives are preparing to make the deadly pill more readily available. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a generic brand of the abortion drug mifepristone, shocking supporters of President Donald Trump. On Tuesday night's episode of "Washington Watch," Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) told Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, "That was very disappointing, I'll just be honest with you, coming out of the Trump administration."

"That caught us all by surprise. We were not expecting that. We've been trying to find out the back story, but we're trying to have them to recall that decision," Aderholt shared. "... [T]he drug is not safe, and whether it's generic or whether it's a non-generic drug, this performs an abortion, and it is very dangerous for the mother. Members of Congress are coming out right and left in support of us trying to get the Department of Health and Human Services to pull this back. So, I don't know what happened over there at [HHS], but this is not something that I think most people who voted for Donald Trump would have expected."

"I think you're absolutely right," Perkins responded. The FRC leader noted that a coalition of 51 Republican senators sent a letter earlier this month to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary requesting that the generic mifepristone expansion be suspended while the FDA conducts its safety review of the name-brand mifepristone already on the market. "Today, your agencies have all the information they need to bring an end to previous Democrat administrations' abortion drug regulations while a comprehensive review is conducted," the lawmakers wrote.

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"Unrestricted access to abortion pills is systematically undermining states' rights and violating pro-life state laws. Every month, thousands of abortion drugs are shipped into states that have otherwise limited access to abortion after Dobbs, degrading pro-life laws at the state level across the country," the senators continued, referring to numerous instances of abortionists in blue states shipping mifepristone into states with pro-life laws on the books. "Pro-life states have been forced to defend their citizens against radical abortion extremists. Louisiana and Texas are taking legal action against a New York doctor whose mail-order abortion business put at least two women in the hospital and a California doctor who allegedly sold abortion drugs to men."

According to a report from The Washington Post, however, pro-abortion activists are launching a new initiative to expand access to abortion drugs and shield abortionists who ship mifepristone into pro-life states. A group called Reproductive Futures was established Wednesday "to increase the number of telehealth services offering medication abortion and other reproductive care in the United States and bolster legal protections for their workers and volunteers," WaPo reported. Attorneys affiliated with the new organization have played a role in writing "shield laws" for blue states, protecting abortionists from being prosecuted for violating pro-life states' laws. One of those lawyers, Julie F. Kay, told WaPo that the organization's work will be largely motivated by the question, "How can I get the law out of [abortionists'] way?"

"The shield laws protecting abortion providers -- active in eight states -- have stalled any prosecutions for now. Still, an early focus of Kay's new group will be strengthening those statutes to try to prevent further legal action against clinicians who mail abortion pills," the newspaper relayed. "The group is billing itself as the 'legal backbone' for reproductive health care moving forward."

Mary Szoch, director of FRC's Center for Human Dignity, said in comments to The Washington Stand, "Anyone who cares about women should be working to make life better for them -- not to pad the wallets of abortionists who leave women alone to deal with the possibility of complications from a drug that will kill their child and could end their life as well." She continued, "The abortion industry promises pregnant moms that mifepristone will be an easy fix and that the unborn baby is just a clump of cells. Nothing could be further from the truth. As countless women have learned, that clump of cells is their visibly-recognizable unborn child, and the 'easy fix' leaves scars on their hearts forever."

Szoch added, "Instead of promoting abortion, Reproductive Futures should learn from pregnancy resource centers how to really support women during and after pregnancy with things like material assistance, counseling, parenting classes, housing, and many other resources."

A bombshell study released earlier this year found that serious complications -- including sepsis and hemorrhaging -- effect nearly 11% of women who use the abortion drug. Charlotte Lozier Institute vice president and Director of Medical Affairs Dr. Ingrid Skop spoke this week about the serious complications women suffer as a result of mifepristone use. "Women are not being counseled about what to expect. Ninety percent of women who take these pills describe the pain as severe, moderate-to-severe, and more than half of them say the pain was much worse than they expected. These women are overwhelming our emergency rooms," the pro-life physician warned.

"We've got an overstressed, overworked emergency room system already," Skop added. "But it is not the case that they're just seeking reassurance. Our data has demonstrated that about 70% of them have the highest acuity coding: they're sick when they come in."