On June 1, ERLC President Dr. Evan Lenow sent a letter to Acting Commissioner Diamantas asking the acting FDA head to reinstate safeguards and curb unnecessary harm caused by the abortion pill nationwide during his time leading the agency.
While Southern Baptists ultimately call for chemical abortion pills to be removed from the market, the letter asks the acting commissioner to:
- Prioritize the completion of the safety review of mifepristone.
- Suspend the approval of generic mifepristone pills, pulling them from the market.
- Reinstate the full set of Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) protections through federal rulemaking, including in-person exams, dispensing requirements, and physician oversight.
- Strengthen adverse event reporting to ensure accurate data on complications for women.
- Coordinate with the Trump administration to enforce the Comstock Act—which contains language prohibiting the mailing of mifepristone across state lines.
What have Southern Baptists said about the abortion pill?
In the letter, Dr. Lenow states,
“Southern Baptist messengers clearly articulated the FDA’s role in ending access to the abortion pill in the recent resolution entitled ‘On Standing Against the Moral Evils and Medical Dangers of Chemical Abortion Pills,’ passed at the 2025 annual meeting. In it, Southern Baptists called for the FDA to ‘immediately revoke its approval of mifepristone, restore all previously removed safety protocols, and reevaluate chemical abortion drugs using real-world data.’
“I stand by these words approved by our messengers … [and] I encourage you to lead with resolve and moral clarity.”
ERLC engagement opposing the abortion pill
In our efforts to bring an end to abortion, the ERLC has persistently worked to curb access to the chemical abortion pill. While the judicial branch examines this case, the executive branch can take swift action. The ERLC sent a letter to the Trump administration in January calling upon the FDA to remove mifepristone from the market. We pray that the FDA, now under new leadership, will act quickly to roll back access to this dangerous drug, which will be one more step toward the end of chemical abortion for good.
