Live Action is urging federal departments to suspend approval of mifepristone and improve the regulation of abortion pills following an investigation into distribution of the deadly drug.
In a letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, Live Action called for limiting abortion pill use to settings with in-person medical evaluation and follow-up care.
The organization cited an Ethics & Public Policy Center analysis that found a nearly-11% rate of serious adverse effects in women who take abortion pills, far higher than figures listed on the FDA label. Live Action also pointed to its own investigation, which found Planned Parenthood staff willing to prescribe abortion pills without considering their impact on women’s health.
Lawmakers and advocates at a Jan. 22 Capitol Hill press conference raised concerns about patient safety, coercion, and lack of oversight.
Live Action is calling for immediate federal action on the regulation of chemical abortion pills after recently completing an investigation into the distribution of the drug mifepristone and exposing the dangers it poses to women across the nation.
In a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary, Live Action urged the suspension of mifepristone’s approval as an abortion drug and asked that abortion pill access be limited “to settings where in-person medical evaluation and follow-up care can be ensured.”
The letter cited a recent Live Action investigation that documented Planned Parenthood’s “regulatory failures in safety” when prescribing abortion drugs. Part of the investigation included calling Planned Parenthood locations across the country and asking about obtaining abortion pills, Live Action reported. The caller found that Planned Parenthood did not perform screening and that staff minimized the risks and trauma associated with taking the abortion pill.
Live Action argued that current regulations of mifepristone, which allow women to obtain abortion pills in the mail, via telehealth, or in pharmacies, pose risks to women’s health because the drugs are being taken without medical supervision.
The letter additionally pointed to a recent Ethics & Public Policy Center analysis that found a nearly-11% rate of serious adverse effects in women who take the abortion pill, a figure that is reportedly 22 times higher than the rate the FDA lists on mifepristone’s label. Live Action stated the analysis showed “that serious complications in everyday use are much more common than the current label suggests and highlight that real‑world risks have not been fully addressed.”
Live Action added that “women experiencing adverse events are routinely instructed to seek emergency care without disclosing that abortion pills caused their condition.”
The organization argued that withholding that information “distorts safety data, undermines pharmacovigilance, and deprives regulators of the accurate information necessary to fulfill their statutory obligations.”
Lawmakers and pro-life advocates support Live Action’s petition
Live Action reported that it held a press conference on Capitol Hill Jan. 22 to present the investigation’s findings. At the conference, several members of Congress pointed out that the lack of regulation on abortion pills also makes it easy for abusers to drug women without their consent. Pro-life advocates, including Shanyce Thomas, a woman who suffered extreme complications after taking the abortion pill under pressure, questioned why women’s health is being cast aside in favor of providing abortion drugs without supervision.
Mayra Rodríguez, a former Planned Parenthood employee, compared the way abortion pills are currently administered to “back-alley” abortions.
“Women are left alone to deal with the pain, with the bleeding, and with the trauma of seeing their baby flushed down the toilet,” she said, according to Live Action. “We are here to… ask the administration to tell the FDA to finally remove this drug from the market. Women deserve better. Our communities deserve better. And babies need to be protected…. There’s no bigger cartel than the abortion pill right now.”