865,000 Cases Later: What We’re Learning About Abortion-Pill Risks
- Life On Wheels
- May 17
- 2 min read
If you follow the news on women’s health, you’ve probably heard chemical abortions (the mifepristone + misoprostol pill regimen) called “safer than Tylenol.” A new report from the Ethics & Public Policy Center was just released, and its huge real-world dataset tells a very different story.
Digging Into Nearly a Million Cases
Researchers combed through 865,727 insurance-claims records for abortions performed with mifepristone between 2017 and 2023. That’s 28 times more cases than the trials the FDA originally used to approve the drug.
What It Means
Serious complications weren’t rare. Roughly 1 in 10 women landed in the ER, needed surgery, battled infection, or faced another serious adverse event after taking the pills.
Hemorrhage topped the list. More than 28,000 cases involved significant bleeding that had to be treated in a medical setting.
Real-world risk is far higher than the label claims. When researchers compared their numbers with the clinical-trial data the FDA still cites, serious events showed up 22 times more often.
Chemical abortions keep rising. The pills now account for roughly two-thirds of all U.S. abortions, so any safety gap affects a growing share of women
What the Authors Recommend
The report’s authors—policy analyst Jamie Bryan Hall and ethicist Dr. Ryan T. Anderson—urge the FDA to roll back the pandemic-era changes that let the pills be mailed without an in-person exam. They also call for reinstating mandatory complication reporting and a fresh, transparent safety review of mifepristone.
Why This Matters for Alabama Women
Quick, no-test mail-order pills can sound convenient, but the data suggest they leave too many women on their own when something goes wrong. At Life On Wheels Alabama, we believe every woman deserves:
· Accurate, up-to-date facts instead of outdated risk estimates.
· An ultrasound to check gestational age and rule out ectopic pregnancy.
· Compassionate, in-person care before and after any decision.
Want the Full Details?
You can read the complete EPPC report for yourself here.
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