March 10, 2026
(Washington) – The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) today released new research which shows that the serious adverse event rate from the abortion pill rose dramatically after the Biden Administration canceled the requirement for in-person doctor visits.
The new report, written by EPPC President Ryan T. Anderson and Director of Data Analysis Jamie Bryan Hall, analyzed the data on mifepristone’s serious adverse event rate before and after the Biden Administration removed a longstanding requirement for a woman to see a medical professional in person before the chemical abortion pill could be prescribed or dispensed. At the time, Covid was cited as an excuse to eliminate the long-standing required in-person visit.
The data shows that the rate of serious adverse events was 10.15% when the in-person visit requirement was in effect, and that the rate of serious adverse events jumped to 11.50% when it was removed—a statistically significant difference of 1.35 percentage points and an increase of 13%.
“Without requiring an in-person doctor visit, anyone can go online and get mail-order abortion pills. There is no way to ensure that the unborn baby hasn’t grown so large that chemical abortion is unsafe for the mother, no way to ensure that the unborn baby isn’t implanted outside of the uterus where using chemical abortion drugs could prove deadly to the mother, and no way to ensure that it’s the mother who is voluntarily requesting the chemical abortion drugs and not a boyfriend seeking the pills to secretly and coercively poison her.” – EPPC President Ryan T. Anderson
The data also shows that the rate of chemical abortion prescriptions during ectopic pregnancy was 0.27% before the Biden changes, and 0.41% after, a 52% increase. The abortion pill can be deadly if taken during an ectopic pregnancy.
This new analysis builds on the largest-known study of the abortion pill, which Dr. Anderson and Hall coauthored and published last year here.
That report found that the abortion pill poses serious risks to women at a rate far higher than currently reported. It revealed that 10.93 percent of patients experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event (as classified by a team of doctors following an FDA definition and NIH methodology) within 45 days after their abortion prescription. This is more than 22 times the summary figure of “less than 0.5 percent” reported on the drug label.
The new research can be read in full here.
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Media Inquiries:
Hunter Estes
Director of Communications
Ethics and Public Policy Center
[email protected]