A packet of abortion medication next to a hand holding a medication tablet

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Research/Study Research/Study

Right-wing media and anti-abortion groups are using a “seriously flawed” study on medication abortion to claim it’s not safe

In reality, mifepristone is a “safe and effective method of terminating pregnancies in the early stages”

Special Programs Abortion Rights & Reproductive Health

Written by Chloe Simon

Published

A recent study released by the conservative think tank Ethics and Public Policy Center claimed that “one in ten” patients using the mifepristone abortion pill experiences a “serious adverse event.” Doctors and women’s health care experts criticized the report, arguing that the study is based on faulty methodology and is “highly questionable.” 

Despite criticism from the medical and health care field, anti-abortion groups and right-wing media have glommed onto the study’s findings to back up their claim that medication abortion is “poison” and “dangerous,” insisting that the Food and Drug Administration should “revoke” approval for or “investigate” the mifepristone abortion pill. 

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  • The report claiming “serious adverse effects” from mifepristone has been criticized by medical professionals and health experts

    • On April 28, the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center published an independent study titled “The Abortion Pill Harms Women: Insurance Data Reveals One in Ten Patients Experiences a Serious Adverse Event.” The study claimed that “10.93 percent of women experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days following a mifepristone abortion.” It also asserted that “the real-world rate of serious adverse events following mifepristone abortions is at least 22 times as high as the summary figure of ‘less than 0.5 percent’ in clinical trials reported on the drug label.” [Ethics and Public Policy Center, 4/28/25] 
    • Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) wrote to the Food and Drug Administration that the study shows “the safety risks of the chemical abortion drug, mifepristone, are far greater than the FDA currently acknowledges.” Hawley continued, “The time to act is now. It is time to revisit and restore the FDA’s longstanding safety measures governing mifepristone.” [Hawley.Senate.gov, 4/28/25]
    • Hawley also wrote an op-ed for The Federalist arguing that the study revealed “astounding, jaw-dropping numbers, and they have been largely hidden from the public.” He added: “The rate of serious health events revealed by the EPPC study is some 22 times greater than the numbers reported on the FDA-approved drug label.” [The Federalist, 5/5/25] 
    • Anti-abortion groups have launched an effort reportedly named “Rolling Thunder” that aims to use the EPPC data study to “convince the FDA, Congress and courts to crack down on their [abortion pills] use.” According to Politico, anti-abortion activists are “counting on” the EPPC’s mifepristone study to “light a fire under those in power.” On a Zoom call that included the EPPC among other anti-abortion groups, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s President Marjorie Dannenfelser said, “Right away it is very clear that the release of this data … has gotten attention at the highest levels in the administration and on Capitol Hill.” [Politico, 5/7/25] 
    • Substack author Jessica Valenti argued that the data offered in EPPC’s report “sounds terrifying” until “you actually look at what the so-called researchers … are calling a ‘serious adverse event.’” Valenti wrote, “Out of the 94,605 patients they say were seriously harmed by abortion pills, 40,960 simply visited an emergency room. Not treated at the emergency room, but visited. Tellingly, while the EPPC claims they ‘followed the official FDA definition of a “serious adverse event,” the FDA does not define an ER visit alone as one. So right off the bat, they’re full of shit.” [Substack, 4/28/25] 
    • Reason magazine senior editor Elizabeth Nolan Brown noted that EPPC’s methods were “highly questionable.” Nolan wrote that “there's a clear pattern in the study, in which the very specific or clearly dire categories of adverse events occurred in a relatively small number of patients, while the categories that make up the bulk of adverse events flagged are vaguely defined and may represent minor or even benign situations.” She also pointed out that the “fact that so much of this study was worded so vaguely should give everyone pause.” [Reason, 5/5/25]
    • Agence France-Presse’s fact-checking department wrote that experts say the study’s findings are based on “faulty methodology.” The fact check explained: “American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and women's health experts told AFP the findings are based on faulty methodology and do not supplant years of studies indicating the medication is safe when used as prescribed.” ACOG President Stella Dantas said the study is “seriously flawed” and “manipulates data to drive a myth that medication abortion isn't safe.” University of California-San Francisco associate professor Lauren Ralph also argued that “research has consistently found that the rate of serious adverse events is 0.3 to 0.5 percent -- far lower than the figures pushed by EPPC.” [AFP Fact Check, 5/5/25]  

  • Abortion pills are overwhelmingly safe, yet access is under threat at the national and state levels

    • The abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol are incredibly safe and effective forms of medication. A CNN data analysis showed that abortion medication is “safer than penicillin and Viagra,” as both medications “have higher death rates than mifepristone and misoprostol.” Salon also noted that medication abortion “has a mortality rate of .0003%, which is 1 in every 377,000 cases. (Out of 377,000 women who give birth, in contrast, 83 will die.)” A National Institutes of Health study said medication abortion “is a safe and effective method of terminating pregnancies in the early stages” and in the case of “pregnancies that are 49 days or less, the success rates range from 92% to 98%.” [CNN, 6/13/24; Salon, 9/19/24; National Institutes of Health, 10/3/23]
    • Medication abortion is under threat on a national and state-level basis. The Guttmacher Institute reported in February that at least six states are considering bills reclassifying abortion pills as “controlled substances” following Louisiana’s reclassification of the pills, while other states are “seeking to subvert environmental laws to regulate medication abortion.” Anti-abortion groups have also pushed for the federal government to use the Comstock Act, which Guttmacher describes as “antiquated federal legislation from the 1800s that they argue makes it unlawful to send medication abortion in the mail.” [Guttmacher Institute, 2/25/25] 

  • Anti-abortion organizations are using the EPPC study to argue that abortion pills are “poison” and urge the FDA to investigate mifepristone

    • Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life wrote that EPPC’s “alarming new report” provides “fresh evidence of the significant dangers of abortion drugs, which the Biden administration recklessly ignored.” The organization’s president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, also urged ”the FDA under new leadership to take a fresh, hard look at the data and reinstate strong safeguards for women and girls." [Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life, 4/28/25] 
    • Conservative legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom wrote: “1 in 10 patients suffered serious adverse events from the FDA-approved abortion pill, mifepristone. How much longer will this be ignored?” It also referred to the contents of the study as “shocking.” [Twitter/X, 4/28/25; Southern Poverty Law Center, accessed 5/6/25] 
    • Anti-abortion group PRI: People First posted that the EPPC “has exposed the true dangers of the abortion drug mifepristone.” [Twitter/X, 5/3/25] 
    • In response to the report, anti-abortion law firm Americans United for Life released a “policy guide to aid enforcing chemical abortion laws and regulations.” The group also described the report as a “new groundbreaking study,” saying it “confirmed what many in the pro-life movement have been warning about - that abortion pills HARM women at a rate that we now know is FAR MORE DANGEROUS than what the FDA claimed.” [Americans United for Life, 5/1/25; Twitter/X, 4/29/25; Library of Congress, accessed 5/6/25] 
    • Americans United for Life’s Steven H. Aden called the report “just the beginning of an earthquake started by EPPC.” Aden claimed it will “upend the foundation of misinformation and half-truths the abortion industry’s been standing on since chemical abortion was approved 25 years ago!” [Twitter/X, 4/28/25] 
    • Anti-abortion organization Live Action News wrote that a “new study reveals nearly 11% of women suffer ‘serious adverse events’ after taking the abortion pill, including: ➡️ Sepsis ➡️ Infection ➡️ Hemorrhaging.” The outlet also claimed that “this makes Mifepristone 22x more dangerous than the FDA warning label claims” and that the “abortion industry will try to bury this story because the abortion pill is big business.”  [Twitter/X, 5/3/25, 4/30/25] 
    • Live Action President Lila Rose penned an op-ed for The Daily Caller titled “The Abortion Pill Is Poison, Not Medicine,” in which she claimed the EPPC study proved mifepristone is “gravely harming the women it claims to help.” Rose went on to allege that “the abortion pill is not safe. It never has been.” [The Daily Caller, 5/2/25] 
    • Christian nonprofit Family Research Council called the study “comprehensive” and urged the FDA “to protect women and unborn children — investigate mifepristone and repeal the drug's approval.” [Twitter/X, 4/28/25; Southern Poverty Law Center, accessed 5/6/25] 

  • Right-wing media also jumped on the study, claiming that it proves “women have been sold a lie” on the safety of medication abortion

    • Newsmax host Carl Higbie interviewed American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ Dr. Donna Harris about the report, and he called its allegation that “11% of people are going to the hospital” from using medication abortion “an insane statistic.” Harris said “This shouldn't be surprising because the FDA has taken away almost all of the safety precautions that were in place when the drug was first approved, and that was done in 2016.” Harris also claimed that patients receiving medication abortion are “not being told what the dangers are. They're just being given these pills.” [Newsmax, Carl Higbie Frontline, 5/2/25] 
    • One America News host Riley Lewis claimed the EPPC report shows that the consequences of medication abortion affect “tens of thousands of women all across the country, all over the U.S.,” adding that “reports of these events seem to be rising each and every year, without much consternation from the legacy media.” Guest Doug Truax, whose organization Foundation for Restoration of America commissioned the EPPC study, also blamed Democrats for being “hell-bent on increasing abortion all over the country” and creating “a situation where we have thousands and thousands of women who are being harmed by this and didn't know it going in.” [OAN, The Real Story with Riley Lewis, 4/29/25; The Daily Wire, 4/29/25] 
    • On Fox & Friends Weekend, co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy claimed that the report showed an “over 500% increase in emergency room visits” and that “under Obama and Biden, they made it so women don't even have to see a doctor before or after taking this, which is very dangerous.” Charles Camosy, a bioethicist and adviser for the anti-abortion organization Equal Rights Institute, also complained that the report “hasn't got as much coverage as many of us would have hoped.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 5/4/25; Equal Rights Institute, accessed 5/6/25] 
    • Fox News reporter Alexandria Hoff: “According to this research, the frequency of adverse side effects is about 22 times higher than what is currently recognized by the FDA.” Hoff also added that while “the study on mifepristone was conducted by the Ethics and Public Policy Center, which is a conservative, faith-forward think tank,” the “scale of this research speaks for itself.” [Fox News, America Reports, 4/28/25] 
    • The Washington Examiner titled an article on the study “Severe abortion pill complications 22 times higher than FDA discloses.” The piece also referred to the study as “one of the largest real-world studies on mifepristone to date.” [The Washington Examiner, 4/28/25] 
    • In discussing the EPPC study, right-wing podcaster Laura Loomer posted that “women have been sold a lie that the ‘abortion pill’ is painless and safe.” Loomer also claimed that “many gynecologists and women’s health clinics advertise that they prescribe these abortion pills like candy.” [Twitter/X, 4/28/25] 
    • Just the News published a piece titled “New abortion pill complication research challenges FDA commissioner's disinterest in restrictions.” The piece went on to criticize FDA Commissioner Marty Makary for speaking too soon “when he told the Semafor World Economy Summit last week he has ‘no plans’ to restrict pregnancy-ending mifepristone, which must be followed by misoprostol to expel the aborted fetus, in light of new research on severe adverse events following chemical abortion.” [Just the News, 4/29/25] 
    • BlazeTV’s Liz Wheeler posted: “FDA claims abortion pill is ‘safe.’ FALSE. REAL data show 22x higher danger than FDA says.” Wheeler further asserted that the “FDA must revoke approval.” [Twitter/X, 4/28/25]