Study Sparks Outcry Over Mifepristone Safety, Pro-Life Advocates Allege FDA Misrepresentation
A newly released study detailing a significant number of serious adverse events among women who have taken mifepristone, commonly known as the abortion pill, has ignited a firestorm of controversy. Pro-life advocates, including experts who spoke to Fox News Digital, are raising serious concerns about the drug’s safety and alleging that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has misrepresented the risks associated with its use.
Katie Glenn Daniel, director of legal affairs for SBA Pro-Life America, expressed shock at the study’s findings, emphasizing the disparity between the reported complication rate and the FDA’s claims. "The biggest thing that will shock most readers of this report is just how different the findings in this study are from what the FDA claims on the abortion drug label," Daniel stated. "What they found is that more than one in ten women will go to the emergency room seeking follow-up care after taking the abortion drugs. The FDA claims that’s more like one in 20 women, which is still concerning, right? If you’ve got a one in twenty chance of something happening, you might take that seriously, but one in 10. It is shocking."
Daniel further asserted that the study reveals a disturbing trend of hundreds of thousands of American women seeking hospital care for complications arising from medication abortions, a reality allegedly overlooked by public health institutions. "This means hundreds of thousands of American women have gone to the hospital for complications from abortions through these abortion drugs, and the FDA was not collecting information about those situations. So this study shines a light on what has been happening, what ER doctors certainly know is happening, but what our public health institutions have turned a blind eye to."
Mifepristone, a pregnancy blocker used in conjunction with misoprostol to terminate pregnancies and manage early miscarriages, has become a focal point of the abortion debate. Research conducted by the Ethics & Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., suggests that the rate of serious side effects is a staggering 22 times higher than what is indicated on the FDA-approved drug label.
According to the study summary, nearly 11% of women who underwent an abortion assisted by mifepristone reported experiencing infection, hemorrhaging, or other serious or life-threatening adverse events. Dr. Christina Francis, a board-certified OB/GYN, echoed these concerns, stating, "These reports, which analyzed the largest known data set of real-world mifepristone use, confirm what physicians like me and our members are seeing in our clinical practice: that abortion drugs pose significant dangers to women."
Dr. Francis shared personal experiences with patients who faced severe complications after taking mifepristone, emphasizing the risks associated with the drug’s increased accessibility through online ordering without in-person physician oversight. "I have had patients face life-threatening hemorrhage, infection, and more after taking these drugs, which are now available to order online without an in-person physician visit to confirm the age of the pregnancy and rule out risk factors. The fact that these data show a serious complication rate that is 22 times higher than what the FDA states reveals the urgent need for further investigation into complications of drug-induced abortions and for policymakers and agencies to reprioritize women’s safety over the interests of the abortion industry. Women and their children deserve better care than these dangerous drugs."
The Biden administration’s efforts to expand access to mifepristone through mail delivery have further fueled the controversy. Daniel argued that these changes have removed crucial safeguards, potentially endangering women and girls. "We knew that the Biden administration’s changes to the abortion drug prescribing, which included allowing these drugs to be sent through to mail, we knew that that was harmful for women and girls because there is no medical oversight," Daniel explained. "You don’t even know if a pregnant woman is getting these drugs. There have been cases where men order these drugs to slip them to somebody. The state of Louisiana has a case right now where a mother ordered them and forced her daughter to take them, even though the pregnancy was wanted. So you really lose a lot of the safeguards that are in place when somebody actually physically goes to a doctor’s office."
Daniel expressed hope that the study’s findings would prompt the Trump administration’s FDA to take action to protect women and unborn children. "A drug that puts one in ten women in the hospital is certainly not a drug that is, quote unquote, good for women or caring for women, and I think we need to be realistic about that," she stated.
She also pointed out that the study’s limitations, including its focus on specific years and women who used insurance, likely underestimate the true extent of harm caused by mifepristone. "The true harm from the pill is likely even worse than the study. The study only includes certain years and only women who used insurance. So there are tons of women, including those who are the most vulnerable, who are left out of this data."
Daniel concluded by calling for a comprehensive investigation into the safety of mifepristone and an honest conversation about its potential risks. "There is a lot more to look out here," Daniel continued. "We see this as the starting point of what the FDA, the CDC, our public health institutions, and our physicians need to be looking at. And we need to have an honest conversation about the fact that 20 years of data shows that these drugs are deadly for children, but they’re also very dangerous for women and girls."
The study has also garnered attention from members of Congress, including GOP Rep. Riley Moore, who criticized Democrats for allegedly prioritizing abortion access over women’s safety. "They knew this was extremely risky for women," Moore stated in a thread on X. "So why would they do it? Simple: They wanted to undermine state pro-life laws to advance their abortion-on-demand with no exceptions agenda."
The debate surrounding mifepristone’s safety is likely to intensify as the study’s findings are further scrutinized and policymakers grapple with the implications for women’s health and access to abortion care. The ongoing legal challenges to mifepristone’s FDA approval add another layer of complexity to this contentious issue, ensuring that the abortion pill will remain a central battleground in the broader fight over reproductive rights.
