U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, sent a letter to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Acting Commissioner Kyle Diamantas last week asking whether the agency “is reviewing all relevant data” in the mifepristone safety study it has undertaken.
Hawley questioned whether the study is accurately measuring risks to women of the abortion drug, which since 2021 has been available by mail. The FDA halted in-person dispensing requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic and formally modified the policy in 2023, continuing to allow abortion pills by mail.
He expressed concern that the study did not provide dates for what it called “relevant time periods” during which the drug’s effects were measured. He wrote that the study relies on Sentinel, a database of insurance claims and health records, but does not provide the time frame being analyzed. He expressed concern that data must include dates “after the Biden Administration gutted safety regulations in 2023.”
Hawley noted that Louisiana is challenging the FDA in a federal suit alleging the government did not adequately ascertain the drug’s safety before removing safeguards.
The senator asked Diamantas to provide answers in writing by Oct. 22.
Catholics join LDS Church in Idaho in opposing ballot measure expanding abortion access
The Diocese of Boise, Idaho, has joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) in a campaign opposing Proposition 1, an initiative that expands abortion access.
Last week, the diocese donated $300,000 to the political action committee Too Extreme for Idaho, to which the LDS church had already donated $1 million, according to the Idaho secretary of state.
Boise Bishop Peter F. Christensen in July and again in September urged Catholics to vote against the measure, which he called “too extreme” for the state, saying if passed, it “would remove nearly all protections for pre-born babies and put vulnerable women at risk.”
He emphasized that the measure, if passed, would undermine parental rights by no longer requiring parental consent for abortions as well as other medical procedures on minors and would remove the current legal requirement that only physicians perform abortions.
“Proposition 1 concerns matters of profound moral significance, particularly abortion, human dignity, freedom and the protection owed to unborn human life,” he wrote in September. “These questions cannot be separated from our Catholic faith simply because they appear on a ballot. The voting booth does not somehow stand outside our relationship with Christ.”
Fired teacher sues school in England for discriminating against her Christian faith
A teacher in England is suing after she was fired in March for telling a student who asked her about her views on abortion that she was pro-life.
Anita Meston, a 63-year-old who taught history at Biddick Academy in Washington, Sunderland, is suing the school for discriminating against her Christian faith, which she says is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.
“If our national education system continues to claim to foster inclusion and tolerance, this must include tolerance of perspectives with which others disagree,” Meston said in a press release from Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal group representing her.
“In a free and just society, teachers should not be fired for honestly expressing their deeply held beliefs in response to questions in the classroom,” she said. “What happened to me is nothing short of censorship, and this precedent cannot be allowed to stand.”
Pro-abortion protesters block pro-life group at student fair in England
Protesters blocked the stall of the Pro-Life Society, a pro-life student group, at a student fair held at the University of Manchester in England on Sept. 25.
While the protesters, some of them members of Manchester Leftist Action, did not touch the stall, they held a banner in front of it that said “Destroy Pro-Life Soc.” They also collected money for and passed out leaflets on pro-abortion groups as well as links to an Instagram account called @stopmanchesterprolife, according to The Mancunion.
A Pro-Life Society spokesperson told The Mancunion the roughly four-hour blockade limited their free speech and prevented students from approaching the stall, adding that university staff’s requests for protesters to move were largely ineffective.
The society has faced campus opposition since its founding according to the report, including earlier protests and an unsuccessful disbandment petition.
A spokesperson for Manchester Leftist Action stated that, because the university would not act against what they described as “bigotry and dangerous pseudoscience,” they chose to counter the stall by engaging students and raising funds for abortion care. They said they would continue opposing the society’s efforts on campus.
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