FDA advances abortion pill safety study

The Federal Drug Administration on Friday said it planned to move forward with a study to evaluate the safety of the abortion-inducing drug, mifepristone. The administration launched the safety review months ago, according to a Friday statement from White House spokesman Kush Desai. Desai’s statement was in response to a report by The Wall Street Journal indicating that the study was the administration’s response to pressure from pro-life activists who previously had accused it of slow-walking a review of the drug. Desai called the report wildly misleading and inaccurate. He reiterated that the review had long been planned and described the research as a gold standard study, adding that it would be rigorous and unassailable. Mifepristone is known as an abortion inducing drug that blocks the mother’s production of the hormone progesterone, causing the uterine lining to thin and make the uterus uninhabitable for an embryo.

How are pro-life advocates responding? Pro-life advocate Lila Rose described the study as long overdue and called for immediate action to pull mifepristone from the market. The FDA shouldn’t wait as women and unborn babies are at risk, she wrote Friday. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America also released a Friday statement, describing the research as critical. FDA officials acknowledged that abortion drugs are more dangerous than many women realize, the pro-life group wrote.

How are pro-abortion advocates responding? A swath of pro-abortion advocates also commented on the renewed attention on the study. Mifepristone is safe, effective, and one of the most studied medications, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote Friday. This research is a ploy to control women’s bodies and has nothing to do with science, she added. The Center for Reproductive Rights also released a statement, describing the study as being politically motivated. The Trump administration aimed to make abortion pills harder to access despite hundreds of high-quality studies proving the drug is safe and effective, the group said.

Dig deeper: Read Lauren Canterberry’s report on a 2025 study highlighting the risks abortion pills pose for women.