Hawley Unveils 'Declaration for Life,' Pushes Bill to Ban Abortion Pill Mifepristone

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) used the first Missouri Prayer Breakfast on Wednesday to unveil a new pastor-drafted document called the "Declaration for Life," and to renew his push for a Senate vote on legislation banning the abortion drug mifepristone.

The event was held in the Kennedy Caucus Room of the Russell Senate Office Building, according to Yahoo News. Hawley told the room the declaration is meant to call "the country to once again embrace a culture of life" and to "put a stop to the scourge of the abortion drug known as mifepristone."

According to the Washington Stand, the four-page declaration was drafted by more than 30 pastors and had already drawn signatures from over 100 Missouri pastors and more than 50,000 citizens within hours of its release. Hawley told reporters at an impromptu news conference that millions more are expected to sign in the coming days, with groups including the Family Research Council helping circulate it nationwide.

The document opens by calling life "the first of" the unalienable rights named in the Declaration of Independence, because it is "the condition of the others." It ties the push to America's 250th anniversary this year.

The central claim, and who's making it

The declaration itself states that "more abortions are performed in this country today than when [Roe v. Wade] was still the law of the land, over one million abortions in 2025 alone," and that three-fourths of those involved mifepristone, per the Washington Stand. That figure comes from the declaration's own text, drafted by the pastors and pro-life groups behind the campaign. No independent government tally or outside research organization is cited backing that specific 2025 number in the available coverage.

Hawley's actual legislative vehicle is the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act, introduced in March, which would withdraw FDA approval of mifepristone for abortion and open the door for women who say they were harmed by the drug to sue its manufacturers, according to both the Daily Signal and LifeNews. Seven Republican senators have signed on as co-sponsors: Tommy Tuberville, John Cornyn, Marsha Blackburn, Ted Budd, Bernie Moreno, James Lankford and Mike Rounds. Yahoo News reported the bill "hasn't received much discussion within the Senate GOP conference" since it was filed.

Mifepristone remains FDA-approved and is currently under agency review. Sen. Steve Daines told the Daily Signal that FDA officials informed him this week the review will be completed and released by the end of 2026, which the Daily Signal frames as the agency "keeping the commitment it made to him." That review's conclusions are not yet public, and no announcement has been made changing the drug's approval status.

Perkins says the GOP has 'lost its voice'

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, joined Hawley at the event alongside Christian musician Sean Feucht, according to Yahoo News. Perkins argued the Republican Party has "lost its voice on the life issue," pointing to the Republican National Committee's decision to strip language calling for a national abortion ban from its official platform in the summer of 2024.

"I think we've reached the point where we have to call upon the faith community, the pastors, Christian pastors, to step into this vacuum and speak unequivocally about the sanctity of human life and hold elected officials accountable to a standard," Perkins said.

Perkins is describing the RNC's own platform decision, which is documented. His characterization that the party has lost its "voice" entirely is his assessment. Republican officeholders who declined to sign onto a national ban plank in 2024 have generally argued abortion policy should stay with the states after Dobbs, a position the Declaration for Life explicitly pushes back against by calling for federal action against mifepristone specifically.

The core objection to Hawley's bill, which none of the available coverage of Wednesday's event includes directly, is that it targets a drug the FDA has kept approved through multiple reviews across administrations. Pulling approval by statute rather than through the agency's own scientific process would be an unusual move for Congress to make unilaterally. Whether the FDA's pending review finds new safety concerns, as pro-life groups expect, or reaffirms the drug's current status remains unresolved until the agency's report lands.

Hawley also rules out 2028

Separately Wednesday, Hawley told the Washington Examiner he has "no intention" of running for president in 2028, ending speculation fueled partly by his recent breaks with the Trump administration over a Venezuela war-powers vote and a congressional stock-trading bill he co-sponsored, according to 100% Fed Up. Hawley said Republicans "cannot win a primary" without religious conservatives and warned the party against marginalizing that bloc heading into the next cycle.

Senate GOP leadership has not scheduled a floor vote on the mifepristone bill, and the FDA's own review, due by year's end according to Daines, will likely shape whether that pressure builds or fades.