A shocking new study finds that an abortion drug – long-touted by the FDA as “safe and effective – is in fact “far more dangerous” and puts women at significant risk of contracting sepsis, infections, hemorrhaging, and even hospitalization.
The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) has released a new analysis of data from more than 800,000 women who were prescribed mifepristone and found that many of the participants had serious adverse side effects from the drug.
Mifepristone is the drug most commonly used in chemical abortions, and it is now reportedly being used in more than 6 in 10 abortions in the United States.
The findings were published in a study called “The Abortion Pill Harms Women: Insurance Data Reveals One in Ten Patients Experiences a Serious Adverse Event.” The data was compiled from HIPAA-compliant analysis through an all-payer insurance claims database that includes 865,727 prescribed mifepristone abortions from 2017 to 2023.
In nearly 11% of the cases, women experienced sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or other serious adverse events within 45 days of taking the drug.
That figure is 22 times higher than the original summary figure of “less than 0.5 percent” in clinical trials as reported on the drug label.
“In light of this research, we urge the FDA to reinstate earlier, stronger patient safety protocols and reconsider its approval of mifepristone altogether. Women deserve better than the abortion pill,” urged the study’s authors Ryan Anderson and Jamie Bryan Hall.
“Simply stated, mifepristone, as used in real-world conditions, is not ‘safe and effective,'” they added.
American United for Life, which launched the study in collaboration with EPPC, cites that the FDA’s trial data on the drug is inaccurate and outdated.
“Danco Laboratories markets Mifeprex as ‘the safe and effective abortion pill,’ but our research shows that mifepristone abortion, as currently practiced in the U.S., is not safe and effective. The manufacturer and the FDA rely on the results of 10 clinical trials with a total of 30,966 participants, less than 0.5 percent of whom reportedly experienced serious adverse reactions,” the study outlines.
The researchers contend the latest findings suggest the FDA should go back to its previous guidelines which stipulated that mifepristone should be administered only in a clinic, medical office, or hospital, and under the supervision of a physician who can assess the gestational age of an embryo and diagnose ectopic pregnancies. Furthermore, it suggests that the drug only be prescribed to a woman who is confirmed by a physician to be in the first seven weeks of pregnancy.
This is certainly not the guideline by which women can receive the drug today. Many women can obtain mifepristone in the mail after completing a virtual (telehealth) visit with a doctor. In some cases, the drugs are mailed to states that actually ban abortion.
As CBN News reported, a New York physician has been indicted for shipping abortion pills to a minor in the pro-life state of Louisiana. Dr. Margaret Carpenter, Nightingale Medical, Carpenter’s company, and the child’s mother, who ordered the pills, are facing criminal charges.
‘She was a minor and … she was excited,” Prosecutor Tony Clayton told WBRZ-TV. “She had planned a reveal party. She had wanted to have this baby.”
The girl was reportedly coerced to take the drug and later “suffered complications while alone,” Clayton said. “She called 911 and an ambulance rushed her to the hospital and they were able to save her life.”
Last June, the Supreme Court ruled that the FDA could continue making the pills available through the mail after a group of pro-life medical doctors asked the high court to force the agency to restore regulations that require in-person visits with medical providers to receive the drug.
“Here, the plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that FDA’s relaxed regulatory requirements likely would cause them to suffer an injury in fact. For that reason, the federal courts are the wrong forum for addressing the plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA’s actions,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in an opinion on behalf of the court.
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) recently sent a letter to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary pointing out EPPC’s research and urged the newly-appointed leader to restore critical safeguards for the drug.
“Just last week, you said that you had ‘no plans to take action’ on mifepristone,” Hawley wrote. “Yet during your confirmation hearing, you pledged to me that you would ‘review the totality of the data and ongoing data’ to inform action on the drug. I urge you to follow this new data…The health and safety of American women depend on it.”
Meanwhile, Live Action founder and president Lila Rose reacted to the new study saying mifepristone should be banned, entirely.
“The abortion pill is not medicine. It is a lethal drug that kills an innocent child and endangers her mother. The FDA has abandoned its duty to protect women and children, fast-tracking mifepristone through lies and stripping away even the most basic safety measures,” she stated.
“This is not healthcare. It is reckless, it is violent, and it must end. Mifepristone should not merely be regulated — it must be pulled from the market and banned outright,” Rose continued.
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