A key issue in the hearing has been whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would increase scrutiny of the abortion drug mifepristone if he becomes HHS secretary. The drug is part of a two-step process that is now the most common way to end a pregnancy in the U.

The research could further complicate the polarized politics of abortion because the drug in the study is the key ingredient in a pill used for emergency contraception.

A new study suggests that a pill used for emergency contraception could be repurposed at a higher dose as an abortion drug, providing a possible alternative to one of the two drugs used in the most common type of abortion in the U.

Mifepristone is under attack by abortion opponents, with several states seeking in federal court to restrict its use.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr had an absolute trainwreck of a confirmation hearing. Kennedy, who had been a vocal vaccine skeptic and preached numerous disproven conspiracy theories, was lambasted for his anti-science stance and his refusal to stop suing the very companies he now wants to regulate.

A recent lightning rod for abortion opponents, the drug mifepristone—the first of two in the standard medication abortion regimen—surfaced several times during Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s first Senate confirmation hearing as President Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services secretary.