Joe Biden's FDA cleared the way for abortion pills to be mailed to doorsteps across America.
Planned Parenthood started handing out those pills in Springfield, Missouri, in July for the first time in two decades.
Now Missouri pastors have marched onto Capitol Hill with a pledge every senator will have to answer.
Planned Parenthood Brought the Abortion Pill Back to Springfield Missouri
On July 27, Planned Parenthood Great Rivers began dispensing mifepristone in Springfield.
The door opened after a Jackson County judge struck down Missouri's informed consent rules and 72-hour waiting period.
According to Operation Rescue, six Planned Parenthood facilities in the state now do abortions – double the number in 2025.
Wesley Vance, president of the Missouri Baptist Convention, serves as executive pastor of Crossway Baptist Church in that same city.
He was in Washington for the inaugural Missouri Prayer Breakfast, where Hawley unveiled a Declaration for Life drafted by more than 30 pastors.
Missouri Pastors Wrote Josh Hawley's Declaration for Life
The declaration has already drawn signatures from 100 Missouri faith leaders and 50,000 ordinary citizens.
Brian Jump of Forest Park Church in Joplin joined Vance at the breakfast, and Ken Parker of First Baptist Church in Kearney led the room in prayer.
"Missouri Baptists have spoken a clarion call to champion life and the ideals of family," Vance said.
The declaration itself is blunt.
"Life is the first of those rights because it is the condition of the others," it reads.
It also names the problem – with pills shipped by mail, "state laws alone cannot protect human life."
"This Declaration for Life, written by pastors, is calling on everyday Christians across America to stand for life and confront the scourge of chemical abortion," Hawley said.
Josh Hawley Wants a Senate Vote to Ban Mifepristone
According to Hawley's office, more than one million abortions happened in 2025, and roughly 70 percent involved mifepristone.
His Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act would pull FDA approval for the drug and let injured women sue the manufacturers.
Tommy Tuberville, John Cornyn, Marsha Blackburn, Ted Budd, Bernie Moreno, James Lankford, and Mike Rounds have signed on.
"It's time to take a vote on my legislation to ban the chemical abortion drug mifepristone," Hawley said.
Then he raised the stakes.
"I think that we should call on anybody who wants to serve in this body to take that pledge," he said.
Every Democrat who calls himself a "moderate" now has to sign it or explain to the folks back home why not.
Mifepristone Side Effects Hit 22 Times More Women Than the FDA Admits
The FDA label claims serious complications hit fewer than half of one percent of women.
That figure rests on 10 clinical trials of 30,966 women, some more than four decades old.
The Ethics and Public Policy Center checked the insurance records instead – 865,727 mifepristone prescriptions from 2017 through 2023.
It found 10.93 percent of women suffered sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days.
That is 22 times the rate on the label.
EPPC President Ryan T. Anderson called it "the statistical equivalent of a category 5 hurricane hitting the prevailing narrative of the abortion industry."
At a September 15 Senate Finance Committee hearing, HHS deputy secretary nominee Chris Klomp told Sen. Steve Daines the FDA will file an interim update on its mifepristone review by October 7 and finish before year-end.
"Let the data speak, not politics here up on Capitol Hill," Daines said.
Missouri Amendment 3 Would Repeal the 2024 Abortion Amendment
Missourians will vote on November 3 on a new Amendment 3 that would repeal the 2024 abortion amendment.
That 2024 campaign took in roughly $9 million from out-of-state donors alone.
An August poll showed 43 percent in favor and 44 percent opposed.
The Springfield clinic will keep handing out pills unless voters shut it down.
"There hasn't been much will to do much of anything to protect the innocent and unborn," Hawley admitted.
Missouri's pastors just handed Washington 50,000 names and a pledge that leaves no room to hide.
Sources:
- Ashley Berry, "Planned Parenthood Begins Medication Abortion Services in Springfield for First Time in Over 20 Years," KY3, July 28, 2026.
- Virginia Grace McKinnon, "Hawley Advocates Mifepristone Ban With Pro-Life Declaration," The Daily Signal, September 16, 2026.
- Office of Sen. Josh Hawley, "Hawley Unveils Declaration for Life with Christian Leaders," Hawley.Senate.gov, September 17, 2026.
- "Sen. Josh Hawley Urges Republicans to Sign 'Declaration for Life,'" LifeSiteNews, September 19, 2026.
- Kate Quiñones, "Pro-Life News Roundup: Christian Leaders Unite Against Chemical Abortion," National Catholic Register, September 19, 2026.
- Sarah Neely, "Missouri and Idaho Have Massive Battles to Stop Abortions, Please Vote Pro-Life," LifeNews.com, September 22, 2026.
- "Missouri Baptist Pastors Take Stand for Life at Inaugural Missouri Prayer Breakfast," The Pathway, September 21, 2026.
- Jamie Bryan Hall and Ryan T. Anderson, "The Abortion Pill Harms Women," Ethics and Public Policy Center, April 28, 2025.
- Office of Sen. Steve Daines, "Daines to FDA: Protect Women's Health, Release Safety Review of Abortion Pill," Daines.Senate.gov, September 15, 2026.
