Tuberville says mifepristone "needs to be banned" and joins Hawley's bill
Tommy TubervilleUnited States Senator for Alabama, in an official press release announcing that he joined Hawley's bill
Senator Tommy Tuberville said one in ten women who take mifepristone suffer serious health problems and that the drug needs to be banned. He also said he was proud to join Hawley's bill, which would let harmed women sue the drug's manufacturers.
“One in ten women who take this drug suffer serious health problems and it needs to be banned. These companies need to be put out of business and forced to pay the price for the damage they’ve caused. I’m proud to join this legislation with Sen. Hawley to ban mifepristone and empower the women who have been harmed to hold these pharmaceutical companies accountable.”
Official statement
Official statement
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
Official statement
About this source
Tuberville's own press release announcing that he joined Hawley's bill. It quotes him, lists the bill's three provisions and cites one recent study on complication rates.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Official statement
About this source
Hawley's own announcement of the bill, issued alongside a Capitol Hill press conference with anti-abortion movement leaders. It states the bill's three operative provisions and carries the quotation on which his safety claim rests.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
PolitiFact's May 26, 2026 review of the research on mifepristone's safety, written as Republican senators cited a one-in-ten serious-complication figure. It reports where that figure comes from and summarizes the studies on complication rates.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Hawley introduced the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act on March 11, 2026. Tuberville's release, dated March 26, said he had joined Hawley in introducing it.
After the quotation
The release listed the bill's provisions, including withdrawing the FDA's approval of mifepristone for abortion and creating a private right of action against manufacturers. Separately, PolitiFact reported on May 26, 2026 that Republican senators had cited a figure of 1 in 10 women experiencing serious complications, and that the figure comes from a report by a conservative nonprofit that was not published in a peer-reviewed medical journal and that more than 250 reproductive health researchers criticized. The PolitiFact article did not name Tuberville.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is Hawley's proposal that Congress ban mifepristone by withdrawing its federal approval. Tuberville said the drug needs to be banned and that he was proud to join Hawley's legislation to do it. That is direct support for the ban, so we labeled it Defended or excused.
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The Dispute Index. "Tuberville says mifepristone "needs to be banned" and joins Hawley's bill". First published: 2026-09-26. Last updated: 2026-09-26. https://disputeindex.com/events/2782-senator-tommy-tuberville-said-one-in-ten-women