Republicans and right-wing media have jumped on a new report revealed by a conservative suppose tank that claims the abortion drug mifepristone is dangerous to girls. Specialists inform HuffPost that the research is junk science — however that’s not stopping abortion opponents from utilizing it to foyer for extra abortion capsule restrictions.
The Ethics and Public Coverage Heart revealed the report simply days after FDA Commissioner Martin Makary stated he has “no plans” to limit mifepristone, which has been on the middle of the abortion wars for the reason that fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Makary made a number of headlines for his feedback, seemingly assuring pro-choice Individuals that he wouldn’t pull FDA approval of the drug.
However in that very same interview, Makary additionally stated: “As you may know, there is an ongoing set of data that is coming into FDA on mifepristone. So if the data suggests something or tells us that there’s a real signal, we can’t promise we’re not going to act on that data that we have not yet seen.” President Donald Trump introduced his intent to nominate Makary to helm the FDA quickly after the November election, and the previous Fox Information contributor — who routinely unfold anti-abortion misinformation — was confirmed by the Senate final month.
The identical day the report was launched, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) despatched a letter to Makary quoting the FDA commissioner’s above assertion and urging him to “follow this new data and take all appropriate action to restore critical safeguards on the use of mifepristone.” Hawley, a number one anti-abortion advocate, requested Makary to revive sure necessities to entry mifepristone, which the Biden administration loosened in the course of the COVID pandemic. Hawley requested Makary to reply by Could 15, including, “The health and safety of American women depend on it.”
The timing of Makary’s feedback, the report and Hawley’s letter has set off alarms amongst reproductive well being teams.
“It’s troubling that President Trump’s new FDA commissioner has refused to acknowledge mifepristone’s longstanding record of overwhelming safety and efficacy,” Liz Wagner, senior federal coverage counsel on the Heart for Reproductive Rights, advised HuffPost. “And it’s even more troubling that a deeply flawed, non-peer-reviewed ‘study’ was released by an anti-abortion group immediately after Dr. Makary told a reporter that the FDA may act on ‘a real signal’ on mifepristone.”
Makary, together with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have stated they’ll defer to new analysis on mifepristone to find out whether or not it’s secure to make use of. Kennedy even stated the president has tasked him with learning the security of the abortion capsule. However a long time of evidence-based analysis and peer-reviewed research have already confirmed mifepristone to be extraordinarily secure and efficient.
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When requested if the FDA is contemplating Hawley’s request, an company spokesperson advised HuffPost: “The FDA is committed to safeguarding public health by ensuring the safety, efficacy, and quality of the products it regulates. The agency rigorously evaluates the latest scientific data, leveraging gold standard science to make informed decisions. With a steadfast focus on protecting consumers, the FDA applies a balanced, science-based approach while incorporating practical, common-sense considerations to its regulatory processes.”
The company additionally pointed HuffPost to Makary’s remark that the FDA could act if there’s a “real signal” in knowledge relating to mifepristone. When HuffPost requested if the EPPC report is the “ongoing set of data that is coming into the FDA on mifepristone” that Makary referred to, the spokesperson didn’t reply.
Republicans have been chomping on the bit to roll again entry to the abortion capsule via the FDA, both by proscribing how sufferers can get the remedy or pulling it off cabinets altogether. The EPPC is an advisory board member of Undertaking 2025, an excessive right-wing coverage agenda that particulars learn how to ban abortion nationwide, together with proscribing or banning mifepristone utilizing Trump appointees within the FDA. One of many two authors of the EPPC report, and the group’s president, beforehand labored on the Heritage Basis, the far-right suppose tank that led Undertaking 2025.
Proper-wing media retailers and anti-abortion advocacy teams jumped on the EPPC report, and several other high-profile Republicans pointed to it as a purpose mifepristone must be restricted.
“The science is clear: the abortion pill is not safe for women & never has been,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) tweeted. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) tweeted the report and wrote: “Read more to learn about the lies the Biden admin told women about this dangerous drug.”
The EPPC report claims it’s the “largest-known study of the abortion pill” and that almost 11% of ladies “experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days following a mifepristone abortion.”
Rachel Jones, a principal analysis scientist on the Guttmacher Institute, stated she wouldn’t name this paper a “study” because it was not peer-reviewed. The EPPC report additionally doesn’t embody its dataset and process codes — an uncommon resolution that makes it unattainable for different researchers to completely assess the methodology and integrity of its outcomes.
When HuffPost reached EPPC for remark, communications director Hunter Estes stated the group is unable to share the complete dataset with the general public. Estes advised HuffPost that the report was not peer-reviewed as a result of “the extensive pro-abortion bias in the peer-review process” creates “no opportunities to publish peer-reviewed analysis that offer major substantive critiques of the abortion pill or abortion.”
“Even apart from all the red flags with the data and supposed analysis, the fact where they land in the recommendations — that has nothing to do with the research itself — indicates this was driven more by ideology than by scientific rigor,” Jones advised HuffPost.
For instance, the suggestions within the report embody that mifepristone ought to solely be used as much as seven weeks of being pregnant, however the knowledge didn’t take a look at outcomes by size of gestation. Moreover, the authors suggest that solely physicians ought to present mifepristone, however the evaluation didn’t distinguish between whether or not the capsule was supplied by a doctor or a sophisticated observe clinician. When requested how EPPC arrived on the coverage suggestions included within the paper, Estes repeated the suggestions revealed within the report.
“For 25 years, objective safety data has shown that medication abortion is safe, full stop,” stated Wagner, from the Heart for Reproductive Rights. “If political appointees at the FDA decide that anti-abortion propaganda should influence their review process, it will diminish the FDA’s standing and credibility.”
