Dr.Heidi Overton, a fierce opponent of abortion rights, is set to appear before senators Thursday for her confirmation hearing to lead the Food and Drug Administration.
The hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee comes as the FDA faces pressure from Republicans, including the committee’s chair, Sen.Bill Cassidy, R-La., to tighten access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
Cassidy, who is a key vote in Overton’s confirmation, has been pushing the administration to reverse a Biden-era rule that allows mifepristone to be prescribed via telemedicine and sent through the mail.In a committee report published last month, Cassidy accused the makers of mifepristone of failing to meet their legal responsibilities to ensure compliance with FDA safety regulations, particularly when the pills are sold online through third-party providers.
At a hearing in January, Cassidy called on Health Secretary Robert F.Kennedy Jr.
and the previous FDA commissioner, Dr.Marty Makary, to complete a safety review that they both promised during their confirmation hearings.
In June, the FDA said it launched a new safety study on mifepristone.Art Caplan, the head of the medical ethics division at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City, said Overton’s views on abortion appear to align with Cassidy’s.
Overton, a preventive medicine physician, currently serves as a domestic policy official in the White House.Prior to that, she worked as chief policy officer at the conservative think tank America First Policy Institute, where she praised the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v.
Wade and called for strict restrictions on medication abortion, claiming that it is “dangerous to women.” (Studies have shown that the drug, even when taken at home, is safe and effective.)If confirmed, Overton would take over an agency that has been without a permanent commissioner since Makary resigned in May, in part over the administration’s decision to...