The biggest abortion business in America doesn’t like the pro-life doctor President Donald Trump picked to run the FDA.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund says it’s opposed Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, pro-life physician Dr. Heidi Overton, and called her “a threat to abortion” after her Senate confirmation hearing.
The abortion group’s advocacy arm falsely claimed Overton “spread misinformation, rejected science, and promoted anti-abortion propaganda” during the hearing for FDA commissioner yesterday.
“Heidi Overton is a threat to abortion. After this damning hearing, any senator who chooses to stand with the Trump administration and support her nomination is putting their stamp of approval on attacks on abortion — and putting people’s lives and health at risk,” said Sarah Guggenheimer, a Planned Parenthood Action Fund spokesperson said ironically as it ends the lives of women and babies.
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The group claimed Overton committed to “seeing through the FDA’s politically motivated review of mifepristone,” “refused to acknowledge that an IUD is contraceptive care, not an ‘abortifacient,’” and “failed to shut down conspiracies about birth control in wastewater.”
Trump moved in August to nominate Overton, a physician and White House health policy adviser. Overton is board-certified in public health and general preventive medicine. She trained as a general surgery resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital and earned a doctorate in clinical investigation from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
She serves as deputy director for the White House Domestic Policy Council and previously was chief policy officer for the America First Policy Institute, where she led its Center for a Healthy America.
She also served as a fellow in the first Trump White House from 2019 to 2020.
Pro-life leaders have backed the nomination.
Americans United for Life CEO John Mize said, “Dr. Overton is the right candidate. She has the scientific and medical background that will enable her to perform an objective analysis of the dangers chemical abortion poses to women. Americans United for Life supports Dr. Overton as the next Commissioner of the FDA.”
Sarah Zagorski, senior director of public relations and communications at Americans United for Life, said, “We believe Dr. Overton has an opportunity to help strengthen restrictions on the chemical abortion regimen, which, in this post-Dobbs era, has raised serious concerns about the safety and well-being of women and girls. Beyond the potential physical risks, the ease with which these drugs can be obtained online may also create opportunities for abuse and violence, particularly when they can be purchased by individuals seeking to place women in dangerous or coercive situations.”
In a 2022 LifeNews article, Overton said scientific advances have strengthened the case for protecting unborn children.
“The Left goes on and on about ‘Follow the Science’ except when it comes to the abortion debate,” she said. “Medical treatments and technology have drastically changed and improved since 1973. Women can now see a baby inside their womb, watch it move and breathe, take home a picture and share it with friends on social media. The power of technology and improvements in medical care have changed the abortion debate towards pro-life arguments which is why the Left doesn’t use the ‘Follow the science’ mantra with abortion.”
She also pointed to ultrasound technology, improved survival of extremely preterm infants, and intrauterine surgery, and she criticized doctors who describe the same medical findings differently depending on whether a pregnancy is wanted.
Overton still needs Senate confirmation. Pro-life groups say her medical training and policy background would put a physician in position to examine the risks of chemical abortion, an outcome Planned Parenthood’s political arm is fighting.
