The study is from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC). Researchers looked at insurance claims from 2017 through 2023 and found that just over one in ten patients (10.93%) experience a serious adverse health event within 45 days after a mifepristone abortion.
EPPS’s Jamie Bryan Hall and Ryan Anderson co-authored the study, which found health events to be 22% more frequent than estimates by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The survey is the largest-known study of the abortion pill.
"The mainstream media basically is ignoring the study," says Michael J New, an assistant professor of practice at the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America and a senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute. "We need to circulate it on social media."
If nothing else, New recommends pro-lifers "educate friends and peers about the risks" involved with chemical abortions.
"Also, we just need to step up our efforts to get the FDA to put some limits on chemical abortions or frankly take these pills off the market altogether."
Steven Ertelt, founder and editor of LifeNews, agrees. "With this information in hand there's absolutely no reason that the abortion pill should be on the market," he argues. "Or if it's on the market, there's no reason it shouldn't have major warnings associated with it."
He recommends people contact the White House and members of Congress.
"President Trump has the ability with the FDA to put real limits on this abortion drug, so women are not injured [and] babies are not killed. We have to act on this information, and we have to do it now.
"If you knew that a pill that you were going to take had a 10% [or] 11% chance of causing you major problems, you would never take it," he tells AFN. "So, we have to educate as many people as we can to save babies [and] to protect women from real heartache."
Providers and supporters of abortion say the abortion pill is safe. Even the AI Overview for a Google search asking whether the abortion pill is safe says, "Yes, medication abortion is generally considered a safe and effective method for ending an early pregnancy."
The AI Overview does state near the bottom that this is for informational purposes only. It also directs anyone seeking medical advice or diagnosis to consult a professional. Still, New says the EPPC study contradicts these claims that the abortion pill is safe.
Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, told AFN earlier this month that abortion industry leaders are encouraging women to take mifepristone by comparing the abortion pills to Tylenol.
“They want women to just swallow the pill and assume they can go on with their lives,” Tobias said. “It doesn't work that way. The pills are painful. The women are seeing sometimes the body of the unborn child that is expelled.”
"Nearly 11% of women who obtain chemical abortions suffered serious adverse events in the aftermath," says New. "Anytime you have 11% of people undergoing any kind of medical procedure, if they're suffering a serious adverse event that is a problem."
Earlier this month, many mainstream news outlets ignored a study published in JAMA that found OBGYNs are not fleeing states with abortion restrictions.
Editor's note: Comments from Steven Ertelt were added after story was originally published
