CatholicVote joins call for HHS to review risks of abortion drugs granted wide approval under Biden
Caroline MolloyCatholicVote joined a coalition of pro-life organizations in a letter calling on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary to protect women from the risks associated with the abortion drug mifepristone and reinstate safety restrictions that were loosened under the Biden administration.
“The recent revelation of commercial insurance data from 865,727 prescribed chemical abortions between 2017 and 2023 showing 94,605 women suffered serious adverse events indicates that more than one out of ten women are put at risk by mifepristone,” stated a letter signed by 114 organizations, including CatholicVote. “This real-world rate is twenty-two times greater than the rate claimed by the FDA.”
The letter went on to note the “clear” danger the drug poses to women and girls.
“Nearly 11% of women taking mifepristone experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhage, or another serious adverse event within 45 days of taking the drug,” the coalition pointed out.
Despite those warning signs, the FDA under Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden
- Removed the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) requirements to report these serious consequences
- Removed protections like requiring a provider to meet with a woman in person before prescribing the drug to rule out dangerous conditions like ectopic pregnancies, and
- Removed requirements for the provider to follow up with a woman in person to check on her condition after she ingests mifepristone. It even removed the requirement that a doctor be involved at any stage in the chemical abortion process.
Appealing to the FDA’s stated mission to protect public health by ensuring the safety of drugs and keeping Americans informed about scientific research pertaining to health, the coalition warned that the purpose of the agency has “been undermined by political whims that obscured the growing evidence of mifepristone’s harm.”
“We encourage the Administration and FDA to put the safety of women first and take a serious look at the data showing chemical abortion is neither safe nor effective,” the letter concluded. “To start, the FDA should reinstate the previous protections for women prescribed mifepristone. The evidence strongly suggests that mifepristone is unacceptably dangerous, and those who removed such protections put American women directly in harm’s way.”
Shortly after the coalition’s letter was sent to the heads of the FDA and HHS, six medical organizations sent their own letter to the nation’s top health officials.
The medical groups, which represent about 30,000 healthcare professionals, explained that data show mifepristone is a “high-risk abortion-inducing drug that is known to cause serious adverse effects and medical emergencies, including hemorrhage, sepsis, and incomplete abortions requiring surgical intervention.”
