By Sarah Neely
Washington, DC – A new study published as the “largest-known study of the abortion pill” reveals that the abortion drug, mifepristone, is 22 times more dangerous than the drug label currently indicates.
The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) just released a study based on “analysis of data from an all-payer insurance claims database that includes 865,727 prescribed mifepristone abortions from 2017 to 2023.” That pool is in stark contrast to the 10 clinical trials with a total of 30,966 participants the FDA currently relies on, as well as Danco Laboratories, the largest provider of mifepristone in the nation.
According to the study, 11% of women experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days following a mifepristone abortion. And, while the label for mifepristone claims the rate of these adverse events is “less than 0.5 percent,” EPPC’s much broader study reveals the “real-world rate of serious adverse events following mifepristone” to be 22 times higher than that.
In 2024, Operation Rescue’s Annual Survey highlighted these same growing dangers surrounding the abortion pill – drawing attention to women who have died, to an alarming boom in unregulated providers, and calling out the FDA’s wilful lack of oversight.
“In the last few years, both the FDA and the former Biden administration steadily stripped away any common sense restrictions for such a dangerous drug,” says Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “In 2023, even a required in-person visit with a real doctor was permanently eliminated, opening the floodgates for what we call the ‘virtual back-alley’ – unregulated, online suppliers of abortion pills. The number of those suppliers tripled between 2023 and 2024.”
OR’s Annual Survey also shows that, while the number of surgical clinics were decreasing, the number of pill-only clinics were on a steady rise from 2017 to 2023, the same timeline EPPC’s study uses for analysis.
This steady rise, along with the recent explosion in online suppliers and other dangerous telemed options, have resulted in chemical abortions now accounting for two-thirds of all abortions in America. And, as predicted, this new study shows the rate of chemical abortion complications is also much higher than women have been told.
“America is saturated with this ‘kill pill,’” says Newman, “and the FDA has shown no care whatsoever for the devastating effects. Even when women die.”
In light of its new research, the EPPC study calls for the FDA to immediately reinstate stronger safety protocols for mifepristone, to investigate the true rate of injuries, and to reconsider the approval of the drug altogether.
“Operation Rescue takes it even further,” adds Newman. “This study clearly shows how harmful this drug has been to women, and we already know it’s intentionally lethal to an unborn child. Moreover, these new stats indicate a total lack of scientific integrity within the FDA, Danco Laboratories, and any other providers of the ‘kill pill.’ We call for mifepristone to be banned immediately. As this new study so truthfully states: ‘Women deserve better than the abortion pill.’ Let’s ban the ‘kill pill’ now, America.”
This report may be republished with inclusion of the following acknowledgement: “This article was originally published by Operation Rescue, a leading pro-life, Christian activist organization dedicated to exposing abortion abuses, demanding enforcement, saving innocent lives, and building an abortion-free America. The author, Sarah Neely, is Chief Operating Officer for Operation Rescue.”
