New Study Just Dropped: Mifepristone, for the Millionth Time, Is Safe

Well, would you look at that? Not only is water wet, the ocean vast, and the Beckham feud enduring, but the abortion pill mifepristone is safe—and the FDA studies between 2011 and 2023 that declared it so were based on nothing other than fact and real science. If only we knew how good we had it when we had it.

This naked truth was brought to light on Monday, after medical journal JAMA published a new study detailing that, in the past, the FDA’s track record on regulating mifepristone was never politically motivated. (While anti-abortion activists have seemingly succeeded in convincing the current FDA to conduct a new review of the abortion pill, they’ve previously accused the FDA of succumbing to political pressure from abortion rights activists on the left.) Mifepristone, the first of two pills in a medication abortion, is the most common medication in telehealth abortion care. (According to the Society of Family Planning, telehealth abortions accounted for 27% of abortions in the first half of 2025.)

“Key themes across [2011-2023] were consistent findings on safety, lack of ideological bias in staff scientists’ recommendations, and the limited impact of political interference—to date—on the agency’s oversight,” the authors write. “Despite extensive public discussion and litigation, to date, there has been no review of FDA documents to shed light on how regulatory decisions about mifepristone have been made.”

The paper cites more than 5,000 documents, memos, and emails, and was initially reported by the New York Times, which has provided free access to the article. The outlet writes that among the study’s findings, “internal documents show that the F.D.A. has repeatedly evaluated new evidence about mifepristone and reaffirmed that it is safe.”

The paper serves as an underhanded hit on the Trump administration and the FDA, which in September said they were launching a needless review of the pill, citing a bogus “study” claiming mifepristone caused “adverse effects.” But the “study” was not peer-reviewed and was published by a far-right think tank credited as an adviser in Project 2025. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) spent much of 2025 amplifying the fake findings and begging FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary to pay attention to them. Twenty anti-abortion attorneys general also urged the FDA to review the pill. But because 2026 is a midterm year, Makary has reportedly been dragging his feet—leaving Hawley screaming, kicking, and crying about the hold-up.

The GOP ultimately wants the abortion pill banned, but more specifically, they want the FDA to roll back its 2016 decision extending approval from seven to ten weeks and its 2021 decision allowing the pill to be prescribed via telehealth. They’re also not happy that the agency approved a second generic version of the pill in October.

“FDA staff and scientists were basing the recommendations on the evidence, and that’s how it’s supposed to be,” Dr. Caleb Alexander, one of the co-authors, told the NYT of the FDA increasing mifepristone access over the last 10+ years. “The FDA wasn’t making decisions that suggest they were on one side or another of larger societal debates governing mifepristone regulation.”

In September, the Center for Reproductive Rights sued the administration (after its multiple FOIA requests were ignored) for being so shady about its decision to re-review the medication. Speaking to Jezebel at the time, CFRR Chief US Program Officer Rachana Desai Martin said: “This administration calls itself the ‘most transparent in history,’ but refuses to provide readily available information about medication abortion. What do they have to hide?” Science, clearly.

In an accompanying editorial also published Monday, two different authors posit the findings “challenge [Robert F.] Kennedy and Makary’s contention that the FDA has, in recent years, failed to apply ‘adequate consideration’” to mifepristone. The editorial also urges the FDA’s “scientific staff” to be at the “helm of analysis” and “protected from political interference.” Too bad RFK Jr.’s brain worm can’t help protect them.

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