• Posted June 5, 2025

RFK Jr. Calls for a Review of Abortion Pill Mifepristone

THURSDAY, June 5, 2025 (HealthDay News) — U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has ordered a fresh safety review of mifepristone, a drug commonly used in medication abortions.

He asked Dr. Marty Makary, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to "review the latest data." The FDA has not said when the review will begin or what specific data will be examined, according to CBS News.

Mifepristone is used with another drug, misoprostol, to end an early pregnancy. The FDA approved it in 2000 after an extensive review, and the agency has continued to monitor its safety over the years. 

No new safety concerns have been found since its approval, the FDA says.

More than 5 million people have used mifepristone since it became available. A 2023 study by the Guttmacher Institute reported that medication abortions accounted for more than 6 in 10 abortions in the U.S. health care system that year.

The request for a review appears to have been prompted by a recent report from the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a group that promotes Judeo-Christian religious traditions and is funded by multiple right-wing organizations, CBS News reported.

Its report, which has not been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, claims 1 in 10 patients experience “serious adverse events,” such as etopic pregnancy, hemorrhaging or emergency room visits. 

Health experts say those claims are misleading.

"When you have a medication abortion, you bleed. That is normal. That is not an adverse event unless the bleeding is so significant that a woman needs a transfusion," said Dr. Céline Gounder, a medical contributor to CBS News and editor-at-large for KFF Health News.

"It is to be expected that not all medication abortions will successfully eliminate the pregnancy," Gounder added. "A surgical abortion after incomplete/failed medication abortion should not be considered an adverse event. An ectopic pregnancy [when a fertilized egg develops outside the uterus] is not caused by mifepristone and should not be considered a serious adverse event."

Gounder pointed out that the report doesn’t explain where its data comes from or include a comparison group, making it impossible to confirm or check its claims.

This isn’t the first time mifepristone has come under fire. In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld access to the drug in a major ruling. 

The court unanimously found that the groups challenging the drug’s use did not have the legal right to do so, CBS News said.

In all, 28 states have laws that restrict access to the drug in some way. Four ban mailing the pills altogether, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Makary has previously said he had “no plans to take action” on mifepristone. 

More information

The Mayo Clinic has more on mifepristone.

SOURCE: CBS News, June 4, 2025