INTERNACIONAL
FIRST ON FOX: Top Republicans take abortion pill fight to Supreme Court, citing coercion and safety risks
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FIRST ON FOX: More than 100 Republican lawmakers are urging the Supreme Court to reinstate abortion pill restrictions, warning current policy allowing mifepristone to be mailed without in-person oversight has led to cases of women being coerced — and in some instances allegedly forced — to take the drug.
The amicus brief, led by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., backs Louisiana’s legal fight to restore an in-person dispensing requirement for the drug.
At the center of the filing are allegations that loosened federal rules have enabled coercion, with lawmakers arguing the Biden-era policy «increases the risk of coercion,» referring to changes to the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) that removed the in-person requirement.
The brief points to several alleged cases in which abortion pills were obtained online or administered without a woman’s consent, including plaintiff Rosalie Markezich, who says her boyfriend ordered mifepristone from a California doctor and coerced her into taking it.
ABORTION PILL MIFEPRISTONE SPARKS NEW PRO-LIFE DEBATE AS SOME DOCTORS STRESS SAFETY CONCERNS
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., speaks during a Senate hearing while pointing to a chart showing fetal development stages on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Courtesy U.S. Senate Photographic services)
«Had she visited a doctor in person, her boyfriend would never have been able to obtain the drugs he made [her] take,» the brief says.
Lawmakers also cite additional reported incidents, including a case in which a Louisiana mother allegedly obtained abortion pills online for her teenage daughter, leading to a medical emergency, as well as another case involving a man accused of administering the drugs to a pregnant woman without her knowledge.
Lawmakers argue such cases are more likely under a system that allows abortion pills to be prescribed online and shipped without face-to-face medical screening.
‘ABORTION PILL’ FOUND TO HAVE ‘SEVERE ADVERSE EFFECTS’ FOR 1 IN 10 WOMEN, STUDY FINDS
Activists for and against abortion demonstrate outside the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24, 2024, three years after the Dobbs decision. The demonstration coincides with a landmark Texas filing seeking to prevent interstate abortion pill mailing. (Allison Robbert/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
They say the policy not only weakens safeguards but puts women at risk while removing protections designed to prevent abuse.
Cassidy said those safeguards should be restored immediately.
«Chemical abortion drugs kill innocent children and put mothers’ lives at risk,» Cassidy said. «Safeguards protecting against coercion, such as the in-person dispensing requirement, must be reinstated immediately. The Fifth Circuit got this right, and I urge the Supreme Court to affirm that decision.»
ABORTION PILL FIGHT HEADS TO SUPREME COURT AS MANUFACTURER WARNS OF ‘CHAOS’ AFTER RULING
Anti-abortion activists hold signs outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 2022, following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP)
The filing comes after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Louisiana and reinstated the in-person dispensing requirement while litigation continues.
Lawmakers argue the FDA «overstepped its authority» by allowing abortion drugs to be distributed through the mail, saying the policy conflicts with the Comstock Act, which prohibits mailing items «designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion.»
Smith also argued the drug poses serious risks, citing claims that more than one in 10 women experience complications such as infection or hemorrhaging.
They also contend the agency relied on insufficient safety data when it removed the in-person requirement, weakening adverse-event reporting standards and then using limited data to justify expanded access.
NEW YORK GOV. HOCHUL SIGNS LAW PROTECTING ABORTION PILL PRESCRIBERS AFTER DOCTOR INDICTED IN LOUISIANA
Louisiana lawmakers approved a bill on May 23, 2024, classifying two abortion-inducing drugs as controlled and dangerous substances despite criticism from doctors about their other reproductive health uses. (Allen G. Breed/AP)
The brief further argues that eliminating in-person visits prevents doctors from screening for serious medical conditions, including ectopic pregnancies, and makes it more difficult to detect coercion or abuse.
The legal fight intensified over the weekend when mifepristone manufacturers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro filed emergency appeals to the Supreme Court, warning the lower court ruling is already causing «immediate confusion and upheaval» across the country.
Danco argued the decision is disrupting access and forcing providers, pharmacies and patients to navigate rapidly changing rules, while GenBioPro said the order effectively eliminates mail-order access and upends a system relied on for years.
The companies are asking the justices to block the ruling while litigation continues, setting up a high-stakes legal battle that could reshape how the abortion drug is distributed nationwide.
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The Supreme Court is now weighing emergency requests from the manufacturers, which are seeking to pause the 5th Circuit’s order while the case proceeds.
The outcome could reshape access to abortion pills nationwide, determining whether they remain widely available by mail or are once again restricted to in-person medical oversight.
«There are legitimate concerns about these drugs putting women and girls at significant risk,» said Leader Thune. «I urge the Supreme Court to reinstate the safety guardrails that were in place before the Biden administration while the Department of Health and Human Services reviews these drugs.»
supreme court, abortion, republicans, womens health, senate elections
INTERNACIONAL
Iranian dissidents seize on Trump remarks about armed resistance, fueling revival of Reagan doctrine
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After President Donald Trump suggested this week that Iranians «would fight back» if they had weapons, Iranian dissidents, military analysts and some Republican lawmakers are openly reviving a once-taboo question: should the West move beyond «maximum pressure» on Tehran and actively support armed resistance inside Iran?
«They have to have guns. And I think they’re getting some guns. As soon as they have guns, they’ll fight like, as good as anybody there is,» Trump said in an interview with «The Hugh Hewitt Show,» while discussing anti-regime unrest and the Iranian government’s crackdown on protesters.
The comments come as the Iranian regime emerges weakened from weeks of war, while frustration continues to simmer among many Iranians after years of failed protests and violent crackdowns by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
LINDSEY GRAHAM URGES US, ISRAEL TO ARM IRANIAN CIVILIANS IN ‘SECOND AMENDMENT SOLUTION’ TO TOPPLE REGIME
Protesters rally in Washington, D.C., on March 7, 2026, supporting regime change in Iran following U.S. and Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Supporters of a more aggressive approach argue sanctions, diplomacy and unarmed demonstrations have failed to produce meaningful change inside Iran and say the current moment may represent the best opportunity in decades to challenge the regime from within. Critics warn that openly discussing armed resistance could endanger protesters, deepen divisions inside the opposition and risk pushing Iran toward civil war.
The idea of armed resistance echoes aspects of the Reagan Doctrine, the Cold War-era strategy in which the U.S. backed anti-Soviet resistance movements around the world, from Afghanistan to Nicaragua.
«We need to give Iranians the tools now, and they’ll finish the job themselves,» Brett Velicovich, founder of Powerus and a former U.S. military and intelligence specialist focused on drone warfare, told Fox News Digital.
«It’s their time to do something. There has never been a better chance.»
AS AIRSTRIKES RAIN DOWN ON THE IRANIAN REGIME, CAN A FRACTURED OPPOSITION UNITE TO LEAD IF IT FALLS?
Smoke and flames rise at an oil depot in Tehran after airstrikes on March 7, 2026. The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, leading to Iranian missile retaliation and increased concerns about global energy and transport disruption. (Sasan/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Velicovich described the strategy as «Reagan Doctrine 2.0,» updated for the age of drones and decentralized warfare.
«Cheap FPV drones, loitering munitions, and small arms let motivated fighters turn Iran’s streets and mountains into a nightmare for the IRGC,» he said. «This isn’t fantasy; it’s asymmetric warfare that works.»
He argued that modern drone technology has fundamentally changed the balance between governments and insurgent or resistance movements.
«Drones democratize power,» Velicovich said. «The regime’s monopoly on violence ends the day the people get eyes in the sky and precision strike capability.»
IRANIAN KURDISH FIGHTERS SAY THEY’RE READY TO STRIKE TEHRAN, WAITING FOR OPENING
Iran is building a decentralized FPV drone capability in basement factories using Chinese parts, defense expert Cameron Chell warns, citing a potential threat to the U.S. homeland. (Getty)
Still, even some critics of the Iranian regime caution that the comparison to Cold War proxy movements has limits.
Unlike Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe or Afghanistan in the 1980s, Iran is a highly nationalistic country with a fragmented opposition and deep fears of foreign intervention following decades of conflict across the Middle East.
Still, calls for more direct support for anti-regime forces are increasingly moving into mainstream Republican foreign policy discussions.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., recently called for what he described as a «Second Amendment solution» inside Iran.
«If I were President Trump and I were Israel, I would load the Iranian people up with weapons so they could go to the streets armed and turn the tide of battle inside Iran,» Graham said on «Hannity.»
The question of who would actually receive support, however, remains deeply controversial.
Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi speaks at the Women’s Forum hosted by Vital Voices in Washington, D.C., on March 29, 2023. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
Some opposition supporters continue to rally around exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whose name has surfaced during anti-regime protests inside Iran and who has urged the international community not to give Tehran «another lifeline.»
Another group that has acted in various operations against the regime is the controversial People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran, or MEK, which has long positioned itself as an organized opposition force against the Islamic Republic. The MEK recently posted videos showing its members targeting «regime centers and symbols of crime and repression,» in response to the execution of two of its members last month — Hamed Validi and Mohammad (Nima) Massoum-Shahi.
Others point to existing armed or semi-organized anti-regime groups, including Kurdish organizations, Baloch insurgent networks and underground resistance cells operating inside Iran.
Sardar Pashaei, director of the Hiwa Foundation and a former Iranian wrestling champion now living in the United States, warned that publicly discussing arming protesters could itself put lives at risk.
«I think we must be extremely cautious on this issue, especially publicly, because the regime can use it as a pretext to arrest protesters, fabricate cases and even justify executions,» Pashaei told Fox News Digital.
IRAN’S INTERNET BLACKOUT HIDING STRIKE DAMAGE AND SUPPRESSING DISSENT, ISRAELI OFFICIALS SAY
A woman walks across a nearly empty public square in Tehran, Iran, with a large billboard displaying the portrait of the late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the background on March 3, 2026. (Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)
«For decades, the Islamic Republic has used accusations of ties to the United States, Israel, or espionage to target dissidents and political prisoners.»
Pashaei argued the better approach is supporting Iranian civil society, restoring internet access and backing democratic opposition groups that reflect Iran’s ethnic and political diversity.
The issue became even more sensitive after Trump said during a phone interview with «Fox News Sunday» in early April that his administration had previously attempted to send firearms to Iranian protesters through Kurdish channels, though the effort failed.
IRAN REGIME FACES ‘BEGINNING OF THE END’ AS EXILED CROWN PRINCE SEES ‘GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY’
Men and women hold Kurdish scarves and roses during Nowruz festivities in Saqqez, Iran, on March 15, 2024. (Barbod Khorshidi/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
«We sent guns to the protesters, a lot of them. We sent them through the Kurds. And I think the Kurds took the guns,» Trump said.
Several Kurdish groups have denied receiving such shipments.
Pashaei warned that claims of foreign weapons support could deepen divisions inside the opposition while also exposing Kurdish groups to further retaliation from Tehran.
«During the so-called ceasefire period, Kurdish opposition groups were targeted more than 30 times with drone and missile attacks,» he said, adding that four young Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were killed, including 19-year-old Ghazal Mowlan.
Cars burn in a street during a protest over the collapse of the currency’s value in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 8, 2026. (Stringer/West Asia News Agency via Reuters)
One source familiar with discussions surrounding Iranian opposition strategy said supporters of a more aggressive approach increasingly believe the current moment presents a rare opportunity to identify, train and support local resistance networks capable of protecting protesters and challenging the regime from within.
The source argued that while Iran spent decades building and cultivating proxy networks across the Middle East, Western governments largely avoided investing in organized anti-regime infrastructure inside Iran itself.
Others warn that empowering armed factions could trigger ethnic fragmentation, civil war or a Syria-style conflict inside Iran.
According to the source, supporters of a more aggressive approach increasingly believe the current moment presents a rare opportunity to identify, train and support local resistance networks capable of protecting protesters and challenging the regime from within.
Whether Washington is willing to move beyond pressure campaigns and sanctions toward something closer to a modernized Reagan Doctrine remains unclear.
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Members of security forces watch over the crowd during a funeral procession for IRGC Navy Chief Alireza Tangsiri and other senior naval commanders killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes in Tehran, Iran, on April 1, 2026. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
For now, Trump’s comments have pushed a once-theoretical conversation into the open, while some argue the current moment may represent the best opportunity in decades to challenge the regime.
war with iran, world protests, defense, drones, iran, sanctions
INTERNACIONAL
Trump recibió a Lula da Silva en la Casa Blanca para destrabar la crisis bilateral antes de las elecciones en EE.UU. y en Brasil
El presidente de Brasil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, llegó este jueves a la Casa Blanca para reunirse con el mandatario estadounidense, Donald Trump, en un encuentro atravesado por tensiones diplomáticas, disputas comerciales y diferencias geopolíticas entre ambos gobiernos.
La reunión comenzó poco después del mediodía en Washington y duró más de dos horas. Según trascendió desde fuentes brasileñas, Lula habría solicitado que el habitual ingreso de periodistas al Despacho Oval se realizara recién una vez terminado el encuentro.
Se trata de la primera reunión que ambos líderes mantienen en la Casa Blanca desde el regreso de Trump al poder y de la segunda bilateral desde que coincidieron el año pasado en Malasia.
Al término de la reunión, Trump se mostró satisfecho. “Fue muy dinámico. Hablamos de muchos temas, entre ellos el comercio y, concretamente, los aranceles. La reunión transcurrió muy bien”, escribió en la red social Truth Social.
Por su parte, Lula da Silva declaró que quedó “muy, muy satisfecho” con esta conversación con Trump y dijo que sirvió para dar “un paso importante” en el vínculo entre ambos países.
“La buena relación entre Brasil y Estados Unidos es una demostración al mundo de que las dos mayores democracias del continente pueden servir de ejemplo para el mundo”, declaró en una rueda de prensa en la embajada brasileña en Washington.
Y añadió: “Yo salgo muy, muy satisfecho de la reunión. Fue una reunión importante para Brasil y para Estados Unidos. Siempre creo que una fotografía vale mucho, y ¿vieron que el presidente Trump riendo es mejor que de cara seria?”. El presidente brasileño, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, habló con periodistas en la embajada de Brasil en Washington D.C. tras su reunión con Donald Trump en la Casa Blanca el 7 de mayo de 2026. (Foto: Elizabeth Frantz/REUTERS)
La cita tuvo lugar en un año electoral determinante para ambos mandatarios: Lula buscará la reelección en octubre en Brasil y Trump enfrentará en noviembre las elecciones legislativas de medio término en Estados Unidos.
El vínculo entre Washington y Brasilia atraviesa uno de sus momentos más delicados de los últimos años. Desde el inicio del segundo mandato de Trump, la relación estuvo marcada por fricciones políticas y comerciales, especialmente después de que Estados Unidos impusiera aranceles a productos brasileños en respuesta al proceso judicial contra el expresidente Jair Bolsonaro, aliado político del republicano.
Bolsonaro fue condenado a 27 años de prisión por liderar un intento de golpe de Estado contra Lula, una causa que generó fuertes críticas dentro del entorno de Trump. Meses atrás, además, Brasil rechazó concederle una visa a un asesor cercano al mandatario estadounidense que pretendía visitar al exmandatario brasileño en prisión.
El expresidente Jair Bolsonaro fue condenado a 27 años de prisión por liderar un intento de golpe de Estado contra Lula. (Foto: Reuters)
En los últimos días, las tensiones volvieron a escalar tras la expulsión de un policía brasileño que trabajaba en Miami. Como respuesta, Brasil retiró las credenciales de un funcionario estadounidense destinado en Brasilia, profundizando el malestar diplomático.
La agenda de la reunión estuvo dominada por temas económicos y estratégicos. Uno de los puntos más sensibles es la investigación abierta por Estados Unidos sobre el sistema de pagos instantáneos PIX, desarrollado por el Banco Central de Brasil.
Washington considera que la plataforma perjudica a compañías estadounidenses como Visa y Mastercard, mientras que el gobierno brasileño la defiende como una herramienta clave para la modernización financiera.
Leé también: Donald Trump volvió a criticar el papa León XIV y advirtió: “Está poniendo en peligro a muchos católicos”
También se esperaba que ambos mandatarios discutieran la cooperación en materia de seguridad y crimen organizado. Estados Unidos analiza declarar como organizaciones terroristas a algunas bandas criminales brasileñas, una posibilidad rechazada por Brasilia por temor a que pueda abrir la puerta a eventuales intervenciones extranjeras. Imagen de archivo: Donald Trump junto a Lula da Silva al margen de la Cumbre de la ASEAN en Kuala Lumpur, Malasia, el 26 de octubre de 2025. (AP Foto/Mark Schiefelbein/Archivo)
Otro eje importante del encuentro gira en torno a los minerales críticos y las tierras raras. Brasil posee las segundas mayores reservas del mundo detrás de China, y Estados Unidos busca ampliar acuerdos estratégicos para reducir su dependencia del mercado chino en sectores tecnológicos y militares.
Las diferencias sobre política internacional también sobrevolaron la reunión. Lula cuestionó recientemente las presiones de Washington sobre Cuba, criticó el operativo internacional para capturar a Nicolás Maduro y expresó preocupación por la guerra en Medio Oriente.
Estados Unido, Brasil, Lula Da Silva, Donald Trump
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