Largest-Ever Study of Abortion Pill Reveals Shocking Number of Adverse Events
New study reveals an adverse event rate 22 times higher than the FDA-approved drug label reports.
(Washington, DC): In a first-of-its-kind study, “The Abortion Pill Harms Women”, the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) reveals that serious adverse events from mifepristone are approximately 22 times more frequent than the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently recognizes
The study shows that, following a mifepristone abortion, 10.93 percent of women experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious or life-threatening adverse event. That is, over one in ten patients experience at least one serious adverse event.
The study, authored by Jamie Bryan Hall, EPPC’s Director of Data Analysis, and Ryan T. Anderson, EPPC’s President, calls on the FDA to revisit its previous research on and current regulation of mifepristone.
“This study is the statistical equivalent of a category 5 hurricane hitting the prevailing narrative of the abortion industry. 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.” – EPPC President Ryan T. Anderson
This largest-ever study of the abortion pill is based on a HIPAA-compliant analysis of a health insurance claims database that includes 865,727 prescribed mifepristone abortions from 2017 to 2023.
By contrast, the current FDA-approved drug label in based on the results of 10 clinical trials with a total of 30,966 women, less than 0.5 percent of whom reportedly experienced severe adverse reactions. Some of these trials were conducted as long as 42 years ago.
Danco Laboratories, which produces mifepristone boasts that more than 5 million U.S. women have used its abortion pill since it was approved in 2000. With chemical abortions now accounting for two-thirds of all abortions, it has become increasingly important to understand the risks to women from chemical abortion in general and from mifepristone in particular.
Strikingly, recent presidential administrations have significantly weakened medical requirements and protections for using the abortion pill. “The Abortion Pill Harms Women” reveals the startling impact of these policy decisions on the health of countless women.