Episode #54 Deep Dive – The Battle Over Medication Abortion: Courts & Chaos
A deep dive into this week's episode of Paging America
››› There have been MAJOR developments regarding the abortion medication mifepristone
In October 2025, Louisiana’s Attorney General filed a lawsuit to prohibit telehealth and pharmacy access to mifepristone. A federal judge put the case on hold pending the completion of a so-called “safety review” of the drug by the FDA. Louisiana appealed the judge’s ruling to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Last Friday, the 5th Circuit Court ruled in favor of Louisiana and issued a national stay on the dispensing of mifepristone via telehealth. The ruling even impacts states where abortion is legal and cuts off telemedicine prescribing of the drug for non-abortion purposes, such as easing miscarriages.
Mifepristone manufacturer Danco appealed the ruling but, after no response from the 5th Circuit Court, both Danco and GenBioPro, another manufacturer, appealed to the Supreme Court over the weekend and, on Monday morning, Justice Samuel Alito issued a stay until May 11, temporarily restoring access.
On today’s show, Dr. Rob talked to Katie Keith from the Center for Health Policy and the Law at the O’Neill Institute about these latest developments, what’s next, and what the national implications are if telehealth abortions are banned nationally.
››› Casey Means is out, Dr. Nicole Saphier is in
The long road to becoming “the Nation’s Doctor” has ended for wellness influencer Casey Means. A triumph for those doctors, nurses, and people of good conscience - who organized against reckless candidacy. A mix of pressure ended her candidacy - including her dubious position on vaccines which created opposition from the center and left - her ambiguous position on reproductive rights which created friction with the right - and her outspoken enjoyment of magic mushrooms which irked elderly Maine Senator Susan Collins only - derailed her candidacy.
This is a big “L” for MAHA, RFK Jr., and the Trump administration. So where do we go from here? Back to the well from which all cabinet secretaries must emerge.
In her place, Trump has nominated a third woman for the vacant Surgeon General position, FOX News contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier. She is the second FOX News personality to be nominated for the position. Unlike Casey Means, Saphier, a radiologist, has a medical license. Like Casey Means - she harnesses shamelessness to seize power in the American Public Health Infrastructure for reasons obtuse and confusing.
Never letting a loss go to waste, Trump blamed Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy – who he called a “very disloyal person” playing “political games” – for Means’ lack of support. So did Means’ brother Calley, RFK Jr., and Trump’s pick over Cassidy in the upcoming Senate primary, Julia Letlow.) Means herself blamed Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
Saphier published a book titled Make America Healthy Again: How Bad Behavior and Big Government Caused a Trillion-Dollar Crisis in 2020, several years before the Trump administration coined the term, and has a podcast titled “Wellness Unmasked with Dr. Nicole Saphier.” She graduated from the Ross University School of Medicine, a for-profit training institution in Barbados, in 2008.
Saphier is a radiologist who has served as a Fox News contributor since 2018. She is also the director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center-Monmouth.
Additionally, Saphier runs the “Wellness Unmasked” podcast, where she engages in “unfiltered conversations” about wellness and provides “evidence-based insight” about healthy living practices.
The Guardian reports that, “Saphier has also cast doubt on the childhood vaccine schedule, public health interventions for COVID, and healthcare for transgender children. She owns her own supplement company as well.”
That company is called DropRx where she sells what she calls “clean, thoughtfully crafted tinctures that support focus, calm, balance, and overall wellness, without unnecessary fillers or hype…inspired by both traditional herbal wisdom and modern scientific insight, and designed to fit seamlessly into real life.”
She is also anti-abortion.
POLITICO reports that the MAHA crowd is decidedly NOT happy with the choice:
“Dr. Saphier would be a catastrophic mistake on messaging and communicating with MAHA at a time where the coalition is very fragile,” Alex Clark, a prominent MAHA activist who hosts a podcast for the conservative political group Turning Point USA, wrote in a Friday post to X for her 166,000 followers.
››› The FDA has buried multiple reports favorable to vaccines
In late April, we learned that the FDA had first delayed and then completely cancelled the publication of a report showing that, in addition to helping prevent people from getting COVID-19, the vaccines had had a measurable impact on reducing hospitalizations.
This week, The New York Times reported that there are other positive vaccine-related reports that are being buried:
Officials at the Food and Drug Administration have blocked publication of several studies supporting the safety of widely used vaccines against Covid-19 and shingles in recent months, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed.
The studies, which cost millions of dollars in public funds, were conducted by scientists at the agency, who worked with data firms to analyze millions of patient records. They found serious side effects to be very rare.
In October, the scientists were directed to withdraw two Covid-19 vaccine studies that had been accepted for publication in medical journals. In February, top F.D.A. officials did not sign off on submitting abstracts about studies of Shingrix, a shingles vaccine, to a major drug safety conference. [...]
Last June, Mr. Kennedy’s office asked career C.D.C. staff members to delete from the agency’s website a 17-page summary supporting the safety of thimerosal, an additive largely removed from vaccines 25 years ago. [...]
In posts on a website and on social media in August, Mr. Kennedy called for a prominent journal to “immediately retract” a large Danish study concluding that the vaccine additive aluminum salts was safe… The study was not retracted.
Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, a former high-ranking NIH official and chief executive of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, called the moves a “pretty active act of sabotage.”
››› New focus group report has a message for Democrats
And the message is: “Do more to sell your health care message”.
POLITICO reports on a pair of focus groups that Navigator Research conducted last week with people who have either experienced premium increases or have gone uninsured:
The voters’ responses show that Democrats, who are hammering President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers over soaring health care costs as a central part of their midterm strategy, still have some work to do to land their message.
“Democrats need to tell a bigger story and connect the dots — that the Democrats were the party that fought for the ACA and have been fighting to protect the ACA as Republicans, have been going after it almost like a death by 1,000 paper cuts,” said Melissa Toufanian, managing director at Navigator.
Margie Omero, a principal at Democratic polling firm GBAO, which worked with Navigator on the focus groups, said Democrats “need to be aggressive” in outlining the repercussions of Republicans’ health care cuts. “Just because you’ve said something 10 times doesn’t mean you don’t need to say it 90 more times.”
Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff seems to have gotten the memo. He released an ad this week titled, “This Is Why Things Don't Work For Ordinary People” that is powerful and blunt. In the four and half minute ad, he points to corruption as the primary reason things don’t work for ordinary people. But he doesn’t stop there. He gives concrete examples of how the health care system has been rigged by insurance corporations, Big Pharma, and corporate hospitals to ensure that costs stay high and their profits stay higher. You can watch the ad HERE.
Links for a deeper dive on Episode #54
The Center for Health Policy and the Law at the O’Neill Institute’s website is HERE
Katie Keith’s bio
Louisiana Illuminator: Louisiana sues Food & Drug Administration to stop mailing of abortion medication
Reuters: US judge pauses Louisiana’s challenge to FDA abortion drug rule
Center for Reproductive Rights: 5th Circuit Limits Telehealth Provision of Abortion Pill
CNN: Supreme Court temporarily restores ability to receive abortion drug mifepristone by mail
Stateline: Unpacking the fight over telehealth access to abortion medication
PBS: Trump’s new surgeon general nominee has both praised and criticized his administration
Calley Means’ tweet about his sister’s demise
RFK Jr.’s tweet about Casey Means’ demise
Julia Letlow’s tweet about Casey Means’ demise
Radiology Business: President Trump nominates radiologist to serve as surgeon general
The Hill: Who is Nicole Saphier, new Trump surgeon general nominee?
The Guardian: Who is Nicole Saphier, Trump’s new nominee for US surgeon general?
Drop Rx website
The Drop Rx About page
POLITICO: The new surgeon general nominee has a MAHA problem
The Washington Post: CDC won’t publish report showing covid shots cut likelihood of hospital visits
The New York Times: F.D.A. Blocked Publication of Research Finding Covid and Shingles Vaccines Were Safe
POLITICO: Dem pollster says party should do more to sell health care message
Sen. Jon Ossoff’s ad “This Is Why Things Don’t Work For Ordinary People”