Health risks for women who take abortion pill far worse than previously reported

More than 10% of women suffer serious infection, hemorrhaging or other health risks within 45 days of a chemical abortion, according to a new bombshell report.

This incidence of nearly one in nine women is at least 22 times higher than the “less than 0.5%” reported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“Our research shows unequivocally that mifepristone abortion, as currently practiced in the U.S., is considerably more dangerous to women than is represented on the FDA-approved drug label,” concluded the report from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), “The Abortion Pill Harms Women.” 

In addition to failed reporting, the FDA no longer requires an in-person appointment with a woman’s doctor to get abortion drugs. Instead, mifepristone can simply be prescribed via a telehealth appointment. Previously, the FDA required a physician to prescribe mifepristone and the drug to be administered in a hospital or clinic under medical supervision. 

During the administrations of President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden, the FDA changed these policies under the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS), according to EPPC’s report. Under Obama, the maximum gestational age for prescribing mifepristone increased from seven weeks to 10, and the number of in-person doctor visits decreased from a minimum of three to one. The drug was no longer required to be prescribed by a physician and was no longer administered in a medical office. The FDA also abolished the required in-office follow-up appointment and mandatory report of adverse events, except death. 

Under Biden, REMS removed the requirement for any in-person appointments and allowed the drugs to be delivered outside a medical office directly to the woman’s address. 

Danco Laboratories advertises its mifepristone product, Mifeprex, as “the safe and effective abortion pill” and boasts more than 5 million U.S. women have taken it since its approval in 2000, according to the EPPC report. In 2023, nearly two-thirds of abortions (63%) were chemical abortions –prescribed through medication – according to research from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute. 

The FDA’s claim of “less than 0.5%” women who report serious adverse events represents data from as early as 1983 with 30,966 total participants from 10 clinical trials. The EPPC’s data includes 28 times as many participants (865,727) prescribed mifepristone, and it includes health insurance claims data from 2017 to 2023. 

EPPC’s research team included data scientists, analysts, engineers, obstetricians and gynecologists. The results demonstrate the lack of proper healthcare for women and the danger such drugs pose, according to EPPC President Ryan T. Anderson. 

“This study is the statistical equivalent of a category 5 hurricane hitting the prevailing narrative of the abortion industry,” he said. “It reveals, based on real world data, the shocking number of women who suffer serious medical consequences because of the abortion pill. The Trump FDA should take immediate action to protect the safety of American women by reinstating the safety regulations that the Obama and Biden Administrations removed.” 

The report aimed to both present accurate statistics and demand a response from the FDA.  

“The FDA should immediately reinstate its earlier, strong patient safety protocols to ensure physician responsibility for women who take mifepristone under their care, as well as mandate full reporting of its side effects,” the EPPC report concluded. “The FDA should further investigate the harm this drug causes to women and, based on objective safety criteria, reconsider its approval altogether. Women deserve better than the abortion pill.”