ACLU sues to force FDA release of abortion pill data

As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to review the safety of mifepristone, otherwise known as the abortion pill, the ACLU is suing to get access to their findings.

Key Takeaways:

• Earlier this year, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Martin Makary announced they would be launching a review of abortion pill safety protocols.

• Pro-abortion groups, including a group of attorneys general, began fighting against it.

• The ACLU, a pro-abortion organization, filed a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request to find out what the FDA found in the review.

• They have now filed another lawsuit to compel the FDA to comply with their FOIA request, and hand over any information uncovered.

The Details:

In a press release, the ACLU announced the lawsuit, claiming they needed to oversee the review to ensure the FDA was abiding by sound science.

“The people of this country deserve to know whether the Food and Drug Administration is following the science on medication abortion or simply following the whims of anti-abortion,” said Rachel Reeves, staff attorney with the Reproductive Freedom Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. “We demand transparency from the Trump administration and its anti-abortion allies, because this threat to our reproductive freedom cannot continue in secrecy.”

The press release further argued that concerns over the safety of the abortion pill were not accurate, and that the abortion pill is safe.

The Backstory:

The abortion pill (mifepristone 200mg) was approved 25 years ago, with numerous safety protocols (REMS) in place. These included requiring the pills to be taken in-person in front of a physician, and only through seven weeks. The Obama administration later weakened the safety protocols, allowing the abortion pill to be taken through 10 weeks and removing the in-person requirement. The administration also removed the reporting requirement for non-fatal adverse events, so the only complications associated with the abortion pill reported to the manufacturer were deaths.

The Biden-Harris administration continued weakening REMS, allowing abortion pills to be sent through the mail, ultimately leading to several reported instances of forced or coerced abortion. The Biden administration also permanently eliminated the requirement for the pills to be dispensed in person, and allowed retail pharmacies to dispense abortion pills.

1st Trimester Abortion | The Abortion Pill | What Is Abortion?

Why It Matters:

The abortion industry, including the ACLU in its newest press release, has claimed the abortion pill regimen is “safer than Tylenol.” This is despite the numerous known complications, like severe cramping, contractions, heavy bleeding, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and headaches.

The “no-test” abortion pill protocol is extremely risky for women. Without an ultrasound or blood test, neither the preborn child’s gestational age nor the absence of an extra-uterine pregnancy can be verified. These are known contraindications for the abortion pill, and can be life-threatening.

In addition, one study found that women are not properly prepared for the pain after taking the abortion pill, while other studies found that abortion pills are four times more dangerous than a first-trimester surgical abortion. In still another study, 6% of women had complications which required a visit to the emergency room or urgent care. A study in Ireland found that 12% of women underwent chemical abortions between January 2019 and December 2022 experienced complications severe enough to require a visit to the emergency room, while 16% suffered incomplete abortions.

A recent analysis published by the Ethics and Public Policy Center examined a vast pool of insurance data and found the complication rate is 22 times higher than what the FDA currently claims, with nearly 11% of women who take mifepristone suffering a severe complication. The real number of complications, however, could be even higher, as the abortion industry has frequently told women to lie to emergency room providers and say they are experiencing natural miscarriages, instead of complications from the abortion pill.

These analyses and studies are far from a "whim" of those who oppose abortion, as the ACLU portrayed it.

The Bottom Line:

The ACLU's "Reproductive Freedom Project" is looking to ensure that the abortion pill remains widely available. But women deserve to know what they are risking if they undergo chemical abortions, even if it hurts the pockets of the abortion industry.