What the Media Missed in Its Coverage of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Decision Regarding Mifepristone

On Tuesday, September 12, National Right to Life released a white paper challenging the media coverage of the decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in August. In its decision, the Fifth Circuit determined that when the FDA loosened regulations in 2016 and 2021 regarding the drug mifepristone, it did so unlawfully, failing to give adequate consideration to demonstrated safety issues with the drug. The decision will not impact the distribution of the abortion drug Mifeprex (generic: mifepristone) until the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in. Mifepristone is used in combination with misoprostol, a prostaglandin, to cause an abortion. Mifepristone blocks progesterone, leading to the death of the unborn baby, while the second drug, misoprostol, causes powerful, painful uterine contractions to expel the dead or dying baby. FDA records include more than two dozen deaths and thousands of complications associated with the use of the mifepristone/misoprostol chemical abortion method. Thousands of ‘adverse events’ are on record with the FDA and include serious infections, severe hemorrhaging, and the rupture of previously undiscovered ectopic pregnancies.