Bill Cassidy, chairing the committee holding the bill, says he has not seen it
Bill CassidyUnited States Senator for Louisiana and chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, responding to questions from MS NOW
Asked about Hawley's bill, Senator Bill Cassidy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to which it had been referred, told MS NOW that he opposes the current scope of availability of abortion pills, then added that he had not seen this particular legislation. He has not said whether his committee will take the bill up.
“I haven't seen this particular legislation.”
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
S. 4066 had been referred to Cassidy's committee the previous day. He had held a hearing in January on what he called the dangers of mifepristone and had joined an amicus brief on the drug's dispensing rules. He was facing a primary challenge.
After the quotation
The bill has received no committee action in the six months since. A Cassidy spokesperson referred questions to the senator's past work on the issue.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Asked directly for his position on the bill, Cassidy closed the question by saying he had not seen it, while stating a general view on abortion pill availability. That is a refusal to take a position on the specific proposal. The closest competing label is “Defended or excused”, because he volunteered that he opposes the drug's current availability. That loses because this case is the congressional ban, not availability in the abstract; his general remark does not commit him to the bill, and the operative part of the answer withholds a position on it.
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- Josh Hawley
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The Dispute Index. "Bill Cassidy, chairing the committee holding the bill, says he has not seen it". First published: 2026-09-18. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1038-asked-about-hawley-s-bill-senator-bill-cassidy