Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Companies, instructed Congress that he’s directed the Meals and Drug Administration to evaluate laws across the abortion tablet mifepristone, outraging reproductive rights advocates after he cited a flawed research on the extensively used treatment.
“I’ve asked Marty Makary, who’s the director of the FDA, to do a complete review and report back,” Kennedy, a infamous skeptic and conspiracy theorist on vaccines and different public well being issues, mentioned of the treatment throughout a Senate finances listening to Wednesday.
Makary is a former Fox Information host identified for claiming on nationwide tv that fetuses can “resist” an abortion.
Kennedy confirmed that any choice on the drug might be knowledgeable by a deeply flawed report printed final month by a conservative suppose tank, though consultants say the so-called research has a transparent battle of curiosity and wasn’t peer-reviewed ― a baseline expectation for analysis used to change entry to a medicine that’s been utilized by tens of millions of People to handle their reproductive well being for a quarter-century.
The well being secretary went on to say that the brand new report, which claims 11% of mifepristone customers “experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging” after taking it, is “alarming” and “clearly it indicates that at [the] very least that the label should be changed.”
Along with not being peer-reviewed, the report doesn’t embody its dataset and process codes, one thing scientists instructed HuffPost final month is each uncommon, and makes it inconceivable for different researchers to totally assess its methodology and the integrity of the report’s outcomes.
Kennedy’s remarks have been in response to questions from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who’s been main the continuing cost to crack down on mifepristone. He celebrated Kennedy’s response on social media.
“That’s a win for life,” he mentioned, sharing a video of their change.
Reproductive rights advocates and consultants say they’re deeply disturbed by Kennedy’s feedback.
“It is clear our rights are under attack. RFK Jr.’s outrageous suggestion that President Trump could decide whether people can access medication abortion was only the start,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Deliberate Parenthood Motion Fund, mentioned in an announcement, saying the report Kennedy referenced is totally “bogus.”
Many years of analysis on mifepristone have produced quite a few peer-reviewed research proving mifepristone to be extraordinarily secure and efficient. It’s utilized in 63% of all abortions, the Guttmacher Institute discovered final yr, up a outstanding 10% from 2020.
“Mifepristone, like every other medication that is prescribed in the United States, goes through a strict approval process prioritizing the safety and efficacy of the medication,” Ashley Jeanlus, an OB-GYN and fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health, mentioned.
“Because of the stigma that abortion care has in this country thanks to anti-abortion politicians and officials like the ones discussing the fake-report today, mifepristone has undergone even further scrutiny than other medications,” she continued. “As an abortion provider, I know that attacks on mifepristone are attacks on the health and autonomy of the patients I care for every day.”
Kennedy’s feedback Wednesday are in step with what he mentioned throughout his affirmation hearings in January: that President Donald Trump had directed him to review the security of mifepristone.
“President Trump has asked me to study the safety of mifepristone,” he mentioned. “He has not yet taken a stand on how to regulate it. Whatever he does, I will implement those policies.”
Though Kennedy’s directive poses well being penalties for tens of millions of individuals, he admitted at Wednesday’s listening to that he’s no skilled.
“I don’t think people should be taking medical advice from me,” he mentioned three days after promoting that he swam in a sewage-tainted creek along with his grandchildren.
