The Movement: MAHA and anti-abortion groups split on FDA nominee

Anti-abortion groups and other conservatives largely applauded the White House announcement that President Trump would nominate health policy aide Dr. Heidi Overton for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, viewing her as their champion for, among other things, bringing an end to medication abortion.

But others in the conservative world were less thrilled. Overton is not a favorite of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, whose proponents see her as an obstacle to their goals. 

Alex Clark, a MAHA podcaster, told her followers to press their senators against confirming Overton, citing her involvement in an executive order earlier this year that boosted production of glyphosate herbicides, something the MAHA movement is staunchly against.

Clark, in a series of posts on social platform X, said Overton “wrote” the executive order and “has EXTENSIVE personal ties to Bayer,” referring to the pharmaceutical and biotech giant that produces many herbicides. 

“Everyone knows she is the biggest roadblock in the admin when it comes to getting several true MAHA initiatives done,” Clark said of Overton. Several unnamed sources said the same in a story about Overton in The Atlantic last month.

Clark’s fervor provoked a White House spokesperson, Kush Desai, to push back online. 

“Anyone suggesting that Heidi wrote this EO [executive order], has ties to Bayer, or isn’t MAHA has no clue what they’re talking about,” Desai said. “Pretty much every MAHA win by this Administration absolutely would not have been possible without Heidi often singlehandedly running interagency policy processes.” 

Clark dug further in, saying “MAHA moms are smarter than this” and arguing that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is “the most capable fighter we have” but that he’s surrounded by people who “share none of his values.”

The divisions over Overton show an area of friction between the MAHA and the anti-abortion wings of Trump’s coalition. That’s significant as Republicans and the White House look to shore up their base in advance of the midterms and 2028 because both groups are passionate sectors of Trump’s support and risking either is dangerous for Republicans going forward.  

Anti-abortion conservatives, for the most part, have been rooting for the administration’s agenda since the beginning, although some have expressed disappointment at what they see as a lack of progress. They’re pushing Trump to crack down further on mifepristone and permanently strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood. 

Overton’s appointment is a signal to those anti-abortion advocates that the administration is still moving toward those goals. Overton has denounced abortion and called for more restrictions on prescribing mifepristone. That’s especially relevant as the FDA is currently reviewing the safety of the drug.

Anti-abortion groups lauded Overton’s promotion last week.

“She has the scientific and medical background that will enable her to perform an objective analysis of the dangers chemical abortion poses to women,” John Mize, CEO of Americans United for Life, said in........

© The Hill