Alexis McGill Johnson says the bill spreads misinformation about a safe and effective medication
Alexis McGill JohnsonPresident and chief executive of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, in a statement reported by MS NOW
Planned Parenthood Action Fund president and chief executive Alexis McGill Johnson condemned Hawley's bill as an attempt to restrict access to abortion care and to spread misinformation about mifepristone, which she described as a safe and effective medication used by millions.
“This is yet another effort from abortion opponents to restrict access to care and spread even more misinformation about a safe and effective medication that millions of people have used.”
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Should Congress ban the abortion pill, mifepristone, as Josh Hawley has proposed?
On March 11, 2026, Senator Josh Hawley introduced the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act, which would withdraw the Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone for pregnancy termination, make distributing and labeling the drug for that purpose violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, and let women who say chemical abortion harmed them sue its manufacturers. Mifepristone has been approved in the United States since 2000 and is used in a large majority of American abortions. Hawley argues a national ban is the only remedy because the drug can be mailed into states whose own laws restrict abortion. The bill drew seven Republican cosponsors but has not moved out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. On September 16, 2026, Hawley unveiled a four-page "Declaration for Life" and began asking officeholders and candidates to sign it as a commitment to ban the drug. The dispute is over whether Congress should enact that ban.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
Source for Bill Cassidy's response as chairman of the committee holding the bill, John Cornyn's "All in" post on X, Chuck Schumer's reaction, and Alexis McGill Johnson's statement. Also records that spokespeople for Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski did not respond to questions about the bill, and that the two were the only Republican senators who declined to sign a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services calling for a mifepristone crackdown.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Mifepristone has been approved in the United States since 2000 and the FDA has said it has identified no new safety concerns with the drug.
After the quotation
Hawley's asserted complication rate was drawn from a non-peer-reviewed paper that more than 250 reproductive health researchers criticised.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
McGill Johnson rejects the proposition and its evidentiary basis together. The closest competing label is “Challenged the characterization”, since much of the sentence contests Hawley's factual account of the drug's safety. That loses because the passage also condemns the legislative effort itself as a restriction on care, which is a substantive rejection of the conduct under scrutiny and not merely a dispute about how the drug is described.
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Tony Perkins says the Republican Party has "lost its voice" on abortion and credits Hawley with filling the vacuum
“Unfortunately the Republican Party has lost its voice on the life issue and in that vacuum there are leaders that are stepping forward like Sen. Hawley calling upon the church, communities and the country to step up on behalf of the unborn.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Alexis McGill Johnson says the bill spreads misinformation about a safe and effective medication". First published: 2026-09-18. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1036-planned-parenthood-action-fund-president-and-chief-executive