A California doctor mailed abortion pills to a pregnant Louisiana woman without ever meeting her.
On September 24, Trump's pick to run the FDA faced Senate Democrats who want those mailed pills treated as settled science.
Patty Murray asked Dr. Heidi Overton the same question again and again and got the same careful answer every time.
Rosalie Markezich Says Her Boyfriend Ordered Mail-Order Abortion Pills in Her Name
Rosalie Markezich got pregnant in October 2023, and she planned to have her child.
Her boyfriend had other plans.
According to SBA Pro-Life America, he went online and got a California doctor to ship both abortion drugs to her address – in her name, and without her say.
No doctor ever examined her or asked whether she was being pressured.
He pressured her into taking the pills.
She hemorrhaged for a week, and she lost her baby.
That is what Joe Biden's FDA made possible in 2023, when it permanently dropped the rule that women pick up the abortion pill in person.
Rosalie is now a plaintiff alongside the State of Louisiana in its lawsuit against the FDA.
Heidi Overton Held Her Ground on Mifepristone at Her FDA Confirmation Hearing
Overton is a medical doctor and a deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council.
Before that, she was chief policy officer at the America First Policy Institute, where she wrote in 2023 that chemical abortion is dangerous to women.
Pro-abortion Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee came loaded for that article.
"Do you agree with the FDA's approval of mifepristone, which means the agency deems it safe and effective?" Murray asked.
"Mifepristone was approved by the FDA as having met its safety and efficacy standard," Overton answered.
Asked about her 2023 article, she said that "according to FDA standards, the drug is safe and effective as labeled today with the appropriate risk evaluation mitigation strategy."
Listen to the words "according to FDA standards" and "today."
That is a nominee describing the current rulebook – the one the agency she would run is now reviewing – not signing off on it.
Murray wanted a personal promise that the review's answer was settled before the work is finished.
Overton would not give her one.
Bill Cassidy Wants In-Person Ultrasounds Before Any Abortion Pill Is Dispensed
Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a medical doctor himself, sat on the other side of this fight.
At the hearing, Cassidy called mifepristone a "dangerous chemical abortion drug," according to Roll Call.
He wants mandatory in-person ultrasounds before the pill is handed over and real reporting when women get hurt.
Cassidy has pushed the administration to reverse the Biden mail-order rule, and he is a key vote on Overton's confirmation.
In a letter reported the day of the hearing, 50 pro-life leaders asked Overton to restore "minimal safeguards" on the drug.
The signers included Tony Perkins of Family Research Council, Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life of America and Lila Rose of Live Action.
They want in-person dispensing back and an end to mail-order abortion.
Their letter warned that shield laws are helping send pills into pro-life states for about 14,770 abortions every month.
Every one of those is a baby in a state where voters chose to protect life, ended by a package from a doctor who never met the mother.
Study of 865,727 Abortion Pill Cases Found Serious Complications in One in Ten Women
The abortion industry points to a label that puts serious complications at under half of one percent.
That figure comes from controlled clinical trials of about 30,000 women.
In 2025, Jamie Bryan Hall and Ryan T. Anderson of the Ethics and Public Policy Center studied insurance records for 865,727 real mifepristone abortions.
They found that 10.93% of women suffered sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging or another serious adverse event within 45 days.
By their count, that is at least 22 times higher than the label claims.
In Louisiana's case, a federal court ordered the FDA to take a hard look at the mail-order and telehealth rules.
On May 1, the Fifth Circuit reinstated the in-person requirement nationwide.
On May 14, the Supreme Court put that ruling on hold while the case moves forward.
The FDA is due to update the court on its review in October.
Why Democrats Fear the FDA Abortion Pill Safety Review
Murray told Overton the FDA "agreed that this was safe and effective 26 years ago."
That was 2000.
Back then, a woman had to get the pill in person from a doctor who could see her, examine her and ask if she was safe.
Murray wants Biden's 2023 rollback of that protection treated as untouchable.
Rosalie Markezich is what that looks like when it goes wrong.
Democrats did not grill Overton because she said something reckless.
They grilled her because she would not promise to wave away the evidence before the review is finished.
A nominee who answers "the review isn't done" is a nominee Planned Parenthood cannot count on.
If Overton is confirmed, the woman in the commissioner's chair when that review lands will be a doctor who already warned that chemical abortion endangers women.
That is why Murray kept asking.
And that is why Overton was right to keep giving the same answer.
Sources:
- Berkeley Lovelace Jr., "Trump's FDA Pick Sidesteps Questions on Abortion Pill and Vaccines at Confirmation Hearing," NBC News, September 24, 2026.
- "FDA Nominee Evasive on Abortion Pill but Firm on Vaccine Safety," Roll Call, September 24, 2026.
- "Dr. Heidi Overton Appears Before Senate Committee for Confirmation Hearing as Next FDA Commissioner," ABC News, September 24, 2026.
- Anna Callahan, "Louisiana v. FDA Mail-Order Abortion Drug Case: What You Need to Know," SBA Pro-Life America, February 24, 2026.
- Jon Brown, "50 Pro-Life Leaders Call on FDA Nominee Dr. Heidi Overton to Restore 'Minimal Safeguards' on Mifepristone," The Christian Post, September 24, 2026.
- Jamie Bryan Hall and Ryan T. Anderson, "The Abortion Pill Harms Women: Insurance Data Reveals One in Ten Patients Experiences a Serious Adverse Event," Ethics and Public Policy Center, April 28, 2025.
- "Supreme Court Preserves Telehealth Mifepristone Access During Louisiana Legal Challenge," Telehealth.org, May 18, 2026.
- Julia Ivanova, "FDA Mifepristone Review Advances as Louisiana Court Deadline Nears," Telehealth.org, July 3, 2026.
