Exclusive | One in 10 chemical abortions end in serious health complications: report

Nearly 11% of women who have taken a chemical abortion pill in recent years have experienced a serious adverse health event — such as infection, hemorrhage or sepsis — according to a report from a conservative group that reviewed insurance claims data.The Foundation for the Restoration of America had a team of board-certified OB/GYN clinicians comb through more than 865,000 insurance claims related to chemical abortions between 2017 and 2023 — and found that at least 10.9% resulted in a serious adverse health event.In the final year of the review, that proportion jumped to 11.2% of chemical abortions having a serious adverse event — affecting tens of thousands of women.The review also found that the rate of serious health complications is “about 22 times” higher than stated on the label for the popular abortion pill mifepristone, which was originally approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000.Clinical trials previously cited by the FDA for the brand Mifeprex in 2023 said fewer than 0.5% of women suffered those complications.“Our data shows that chemical abortion poses greater risks to women in real-world clinical use than revealed in the clinical trials of mifepristone and that the rate of serious adverse events from the chemical abortion regimen continues to grow in recent years,” the report concluded.The Foundation for the Restoration of America identified at least 692,873 patients who obtained 865,727 chemical abortions from 2017 to 2023 for their review.The FDA initially OK’d mifepristone for chemical abortions up to seven weeks into a pregnancy — a timeframe that was later extended to 10 weeks under former President Barack Obama.Former President Joe Biden also opened the door to FDA approval of mifepristone prescriptions online or through the mail, which the Supreme Court upheld in a unanimous ruling last year.Dr.Christina Francis, a board-certified obstetrician and CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life OB/GYNs, told T...