WASHINGTON — Research released by the Ethics and Public Policy Center shows that mifepristone abortions have a complication rate far higher than the abortion industry admits.

“Every time pro-lifers want to challenge safety claims made about the abortion pill mifepristone, abortion advocates and their loyal media allies like to quote the claim of the drug’s official label from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that clinical studies showed ‘Serious adverse reactions were reported in <0.5% of women,’” said Randall K. O’Bannon, Ph.D., director of Education and Research at National Right to Life. “New data taken from the field show figures are twenty-two times that.” 

Jamie Bryan Hall and Ryan T. Anderson, two researchers from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) looked at data from 865,727 insurance claims involving mifepristone abortions between 2017 and 2023.

The results were staggering. Counting only those with a report of significant or severe complications, EPPC researchers found 10.93% reporting sepsis, infection, hemorrhage, hospitalization, or some other issue that officially qualified as a “serious adverse event.” 

Since the data set used for the report involved the broad spectrum of women in the U.S. who obtained mifepristone abortions in 2017-2023, the real-world results probably more accurately reflect current usage and complications. 

“Women are told that the complication rate for chemical abortions is minimal but hemorrhage, infection, and failure to identify rupturing ectopic pregnancies are the realities,” said Dr. O’Bannon. “Tracking these complications became more difficult in 2016 when the FDA decided that medical personnel and facilities only need to report deaths—not the complications arising from the use of the abortion pill mifepristone.” 

The report issued by the Ethics and Public Policy Center can be found here. 

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.