Criminalizing Reproduction: Attacks on Science, Medicine and the Right to Choose: It's time to haul off Hawley: (Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo). He's introduced a law to ban mailing of abortion pills, citing a junk science report (referred to as the Ethics and Public Policy Report) that has been making the rounds of social media," The Huffpost *Reporter Alanna Vagianos) reports, noting that, "It’s unlikely the bill will pass, but it sends a clear message that Republicans are unafraid to use misinformation to ramp up attacks on abortion."

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The report claims it’s the “largest-known study of the abortion pill” and that nearly 11% of women “experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days following a mifepristone abortion.” But data scientists voiced serious concerns about the validity of the report, pointing out that it’s not peer-reviewed and the report’s recommendations do not line up with the data they allegedly analyzed. “Even apart from all the red flags with the data and supposed analysis, the fact where they land in the recommendations — that has nothing to do with the research itself — indicates this was driven more by ideology than by scientific rigor,” Rachel Jones, a principal research scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, told HuffPost last month"

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The bill also seeks to allow women to sue telemedicine providers who mail abortion pills and ban foreign companies from importing the medication into the country.  This may have been meant to target international groups like Aid Access, which used to mail abortion pills from overseas but now uses domestic providers to prescribe and ship. The group has been vital to abortion access since Roe fell."

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STORY: "Josh Hawley Introduces Law To Ban Mailing Of Abortion Pills, Citing Junk Science Report," by Reporter Alanna Vagianos, published by Huffpost, on May 7, 2025. (Alanna Vagianos (she/her) is a senior national reporter at HuffPost. She covers gender and politics with a focus on reproductive justice and gender-based violence. Previously, she worked at BUST Magazine and The Feminist Majority Foundation. She graduated from Elon University in North Carolina,)

SUB-HEADING: "It’s unlikely the bill will pass, but it sends a clear message that Republicans are unafraid to use misinformation to ramp up attacks on abortion."

GIST: "Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced a law on Tuesday to restrict the abortion pill mifepristone, citing an anti-abortion junk science report that has been making the rounds in conservative media.

The “Restoring Safeguard for Dangerous Abortion Drugs Act” aims to restrict mifepristone by reinstating 2011 Food and Drug Administration rules around the medication. 

Those rules, loosened by the Biden and Obama administrations, would limit who can prescribe mifepristone and require in-person visits for abortion pills — effectively banning telemedicine for abortion, which now accounts for 20% of all abortions in the U.S.

 It would also mandate in-person follow-up visits and further limit how far into pregnancy mifepristone can be prescribed.

The bill also seeks to allow women to sue telemedicine providers who mail abortion pills and ban foreign companies from importing the medication into the country. 

This may have been meant to target international groups like Aid Access, which used to mail abortion pills from overseas but now uses domestic providers to prescribe and ship.

 The group has been vital to abortion access since Roe fell.

“I’m introducing the Restoring Safeguards for Dangerous Abortion Drugs Act after a bombshell study revealed the truth about mifepristone: it’s dangerous,” Hawley said in a press release. 

“The data shows 1 in 10 women who take mifepristone experience adverse health effects, like going to the ER or suffering from sepsis. The FDA needs to act to protect women now.”

It’s unlikely the bill will pass, given Hawley needs seven Democrats to vote in favor.

The study Hawley is referring to is a report published last month by the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank and advisory board member of Project 2025.

 The report claims it’s the “largest-known study of the abortion pill” and that nearly 11% of women “experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days following a mifepristone abortion.”

But data scientists voiced serious concerns about the validity of the report, pointing out that it’s not peer-reviewed and the report’s recommendations do not line up with the data they allegedly analyzed.

“Even apart from all the red flags with the data and supposed analysis, the fact where they land in the recommendations — that has nothing to do with the research itself — indicates this was driven more by ideology than by scientific rigor,” Rachel Jones, a principal research scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, told HuffPost last month.

Bernadette Breslin, press secretary for Hawley, referred HuffPost to Hawley’s public statements on mifepristone but did not respond when asked the senator’s thoughts on the validity of the EPPC (Ethics and Public Policy Center)  report.

A spokesperson for EPPC told HuffPost last month that the report was not peer-reviewed because “the extensive pro-abortion bias in the peer-review process” creates “no opportunities to publish peer-reviewed analysis that offer major substantive critiques of the abortion pill or abortion.”

Hawley’s bill comes a week after he sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Martin Makary, urging the agency to restrict mifepristone in light of the EPPC report. The senator from Missouri also published an op-ed on The Federalist, a conservative media outlet, amplifying the report’s findings and again calling for Makary to take action."

The entire story can be read at:

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"  section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

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FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

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