Trump expected to pick conservative policy wonk Heidi Overton to lead FDA
In terms of her policy positions, The New York Times highlights that Overton has written articles calling abortion “corrosive” to women and calling abortion pills “far more dangerous to women,” despite extensive data suggesting that abortion pills are extremely safe.
Read more at Ars Technica
What to know about Dr. Heidi Overton, Trump’s pick to lead the FDA
When Overton worked at the conservative America First Policy Institute, she wrote papers opposing gender-affirming care for minors. She also has questioned the safety of medication abortion and suggested that the FDA was wrong to allow it to be prescribed via telehealth.
Read more at National Public Radio, Inc.
The Second Trump Admin Has Not Yet Gone All-Out in Attacking Abortion. That May Soon Change.
“America First policies should focus on immediately halting the effort to normalize abortion-on-demand and on broadly recognizing the evidence of the risk posed to women,” she wrote in one policy brief, which I first saw flagged by the Guardian. “In the upcoming state legislative sessions and the 118th Congress, policymakers should prioritize providing greater protection for the two lives involved—the mother and the baby—especially with safeguards to protect women and children from the dangers of teleabortion.” In another AFPI statement, she celebrated the fall of Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision.
Read more at Talking Points Memo