Senate schedules FDA nominee hearing amid anti-abortion push and looming midterms

Senate Republicans have scheduled a confirmation hearing on Thursday, Sept. 24, for Heidi Overton, the president’s pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration. Overton, who previously advised the White House on health policy, will face questions on vaccines, prescription approvals and food policy, but Democrats intend to focus on her anti-abortion activism. The endorsement from Americans United for Life reflects hopes that she will steer the FDA’s oversight of mifepristone, the abortion pill at the center of post-Roe litigation.

The agency is already embroiled in the Louisiana v. FDA case, where the state argues that telehealth prescriptions for the drug undermine state abortion bans. Former FDA commissioner Marty Makary and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have told Republican senators the FDA will conduct fresh safety studies on mifepristone, yet results have not been released. Critics, including Reproductive Freedom for All, argue the timing—just weeks before the 2026 midterms—signals a Republican strategy to push stricter abortion limits. Overton may also be pressed about her work on Trump’s pro-family agenda and past statements supporting the overturn of Roe v. Wade and defunding Planned Parenthood.