The U.S. Senate on Tuesday narrowly confirmed a new FDA commissioner that pro-life groups warn has been a rubber-stamp for the abortion industry by weakening safety requirements for chemical abortions.
The Senate confirmed Robert Califf as the new head of the Food and Drug Administration, 50-46, despite opposition from five Democratic caucus senators who voted “no.” Califf’s nomination was saved when six Republican senators crossed the aisle to back Califf. Three senators did not vote, while one senator voted present.
Califf served as FDA commissioner during the Obama administration. President Biden nominated Califf in November.
In January, 49 pro-life organizations sent a letter to senators opposing the nomination, arguing that under his leadership during the Obama administration, Califf weakened “data and safety requirements” for chemical abortions.
Until 2016, the letter said, the FDA required abortion practitioners to report severe, life-threatening, and fatal adverse events of the abortion pill. But “under the direction of Califf, this requirement was altered to require that only fatal adverse events be reported.”
“Califf approved this change despite thousands of adverse event reports already having been submitted to the FDA,” the pro-life groups said.
Existing FDA data shows “evidence of at least 20 deaths, nearly 600 life-threatening events, and over 2,000 severe events, including emergency hysterectomies and ruptured ectopic pregnancies” from the abortion pill, the letter said.
Califf has a track record of “rubber-stamping abortion industry demands” and is the “wrong choice for FDA Commissioner,” the letter said.
The FDA last year said it would allow the abortion pill to be administered through the mail – a major change from the policy of every previous administration.
“Robert Califf’s confirmation to lead the FDA paves the way for permanent authorization of mail-order abortion drugs, at a dire cost to women’s health and safety and the lives of countless unborn children,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List.
Dannenfelser signed the letter to senators. “We urge our allies in the states and Congress to take swift action to stop the flow of these dangerous drugs to post offices and pharmacies across America.”
There is “little doubt,” she said, that Califf will “rubber-stamp the abortion lobby agenda.”
Related:
Biden FDA Legalizes ‘Abortion by Mail’: ‘More Mothers Will Die, More Children Will Die’
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Win McNamee/Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
