The largest study ever done on the abortion drug mifepristone has found that 10.93 percent of women who were given the drug experienced a “serious adverse event,” such as sepsis, infection, or hemorrhaging, within 45 days. This is 22 times higher that the “0.5 percent” figure reported for clinical trials, as noted on the drug’s label. Unlike clinical trials, the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) study’s new data is based on what actually happened to 865,727 women who took the drug between 2017 and 2023.

The EPPC also found that the “failure rate” of the drug was 5.26 percent, double the rate from the clinical trials. This was evidenced in how one in 19 women resorted to another abortion method within 45 days of taking the drug, proving that the drug didn’t accomplish what they hoped it would. It might seem strange for a Judeo-Christian group like the EPPC to critique an abortion drug for not killing as well as advertised, but they are using this as ammunition against the use of mifepristone overall. It’d be wonderful if this drug could be banned or limited in any way, because 18 times out of 19 it is horrifyingly effective at killing the baby.

In Canada, mifepristone has been legal since 2015, and is provided for free in most provinces and territories.