Frustration over the Trump administration’s apparent lack of action on restricting a medication commonly known as the abortion pill exposed a rift between President Donald Trump’s Make America Healthy Again agenda and longtime anti-abortion lawmakers and activists.
That dispute spilled into public view earlier this month as Food and Drug Administration head, Marty Makary, stepped down after intense pressure from the anti-abortion movement. The commissioner’s departure was followed the next week by that of FDA acting drug chief Tracy Beth Høeg, an ally of Makary’s, who said she was fired.
“The pro-life cause I think is essential to the MAHA movement,” said Gavin Oxley, spokesperson for Americans United for Life in an interview with Bloomberg Government. “When we don’t take action to protect women from the harms of induced or elective abortion, that’s not promoting health, that’s not making America healthy again.”
Many in the MAHA movement came to the Republican Party through issues like vaccine skepticism or healthy food—views that aren’t traditionally conservative. And Trump, wary of backlash from the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, downplayed opposition to abortion on the campaign trail in 2024. It’s been an uneasy alliance during the start of the president’s second term. The recent rift over staffing at the Heath and Human Services Department underscores that the peace between the two camps may not last.
Sen.
“I think the Republican Party includes a lot of new voters that are concerned about health, chronic disease, and things like that,” Paul said.
The Abortion Pill
The FDA had been under pressure from anti-abortion activists and politicians to review regulations around the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone.
The FDA is currently conducting a safety study on mifepristone and will make decisions on regulations about the drug when it is concluded. But anti-abortion activists expressed frustration about the pace of the agency’s work and FDA’s move to approve a new generic of the drug last year. They are pushing for FDA to reverse course and not allow mifepristone to be available through the mail, a flexibility the FDA first allowed during the Covid pandemic. They have also been critical of the agency for approving a new generic of the drug instead of rolling back access to it.
Instead of focusing on mifepristone, Trump’s Health and Human Services Department has emphasized working on MAHA-aligned issues like scrambling vaccine recommendations, getting artificial dyes out of food, and revamping dietary guidelines.
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“Pro-life voters are the absolute core of the Republican coalition,” Hawley said. “There’s no anything without them.”
Sidelined
It’s not just the mifepristone fight anti-abortion activists are losing—they’re also seeing allies in Congress fall to outside challengers.
SBA Pro-Life America backed Sen.
“I’m not going to comment on that,” Cassidy said when asked about the dueling endorsements following his loss. The Louisiana senator has said the administration is not paying attention to pro-life issues, and holds the gavel of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, with oversight over Trump’s health agenda.
The administration seems to be acknowledging that it needs to placate its anti-abortion base. HHS recently launched Moms.gov, which promotes crisis pregnancy centers that try to dissuade women from seeking abortion. Kennedy called its launch “a huge win for the MAHA movement and for the pro-life movement.”
Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America, said the new website is “great and really getting information out to people who need support.”
But she also said there is a lack of focus on other anti-abortion issues.
“I think from a pro-life perspective, just the priority is not there,” she said.