Family Council Joins Letter Urging President Trump to Restrict Abortion Drugs

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Last week Family Council joined a letter with more than 50 other state and national pro-life leaders urging President Trump to place better safeguards on abortion drugs like the RU-486 regimen that uses mifepristone and misoprostol.

A recent study by the experts at the Ethics and Public Policy Center shows RU-486 is at least 22 times more dangerous than U.S. Food and Drug Administration labeling indicates.

The study — which relied on all-payer insurance claims data from 2017 to 2023 — found nearly one in nine women experienced serious health complications from abortion drugs. Women who took the abortion drugs experienced sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, and other life-threatening complications.

With such serious complications, it’s clear that abortion drugs simply should not be for sale in America. That is why Family Council joined the letter last Tuesday urging the president to consider stronger policies against RU-486.

The letter reads in part,

Many states have laws protecting against mifepristone not only because it kills an unborn child, but also because of the grave risk it poses to women.

The FDA label for mifepristone states fewer than 0.5 percent of women experience serious adverse reactions from mifepristone. However, data released April 28, 2025 examines 865,727 prescribed mifepristone abortions from 2017 to 2023 and demonstrates that 10.93 percent of women—22 times higher than the FDA reported 0.5 percent—experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days following a mifepristone abortion. The risk from mifepristone could jeopardize a mother’s life. . . .

States must be empowered to enforce pro-life laws, all the original safety protocols on mifepristone must be restored, and the FDA must investigate mifepristone, reconsidering its approval altogether. The lives of women and unborn children and the rights of states depend upon it.

Over the years, Arkansas’ state legislators have enacted excellent laws prohibiting abortion and preventing abortion drugs from being delivered by mail in Arkansas. But the FDA and the federal government have taken steps that threaten to undermine these good, pro-life laws, and pro-abortion states are protecting abortionists who mail abortion drugs into Arkansas.

Abortion drugs don’t just kill unborn children. They also harm women. That’s simply one more reason why our country needs to protect everyone from these dangerous drugs.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Abortion Pill 22 Times More Dangerous Than FDA Claims: New Study

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A new study shows the RU-486 abortion pill regimen is at least 22 times more dangerous than U.S. Food and Drug Administration labeling indicates.

The study raises serious concerns about the harm that abortion drugs cause.

Researchers from the Ethics and Public Policy Center reviewed insurance claim data from 865,727 RU-486 prescriptions as part of the “largest-known study” on abortion pill complications.

Their data found that from 2017 to 2023, nearly 11% of women who used abortion drugs experienced sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days following a mifepristone abortion. That is significantly higher than the FDA’s figure claiming “less than 0.5 percent” experienced complications in clinical trials for the drug regimen.

The study concluded:

  • The FDA should immediately reinstate its earlier, stronger patient safety protocols to ensure physician responsibility for women who take mifepristone under their care, as well as mandate full reporting of its side effects.
  • The FDA should further investigate the harm mifepristone causes to women and, based on objective safety criteria, reconsider its approval altogether.

We have written repeatedly about the dangers of abortion drugs like RU-486.

Last year, Family Council joined a pro-life amicus brief by more than 30 other state and national groups as part of two lawsuits over the FDA’s decision to approve the abortion drug mifepristone, also known as RU-486, and to eliminate safety protocols and standards for the drug.

Among other things, the amicus brief noted:

  • The FDA also removed safety standards requiring a woman to be assessed in-person by a doctor before receiving RU-486.
  • The FDA knew about the significant negative health consequences of mifepristone — or RU-486 — before approving it in 2000.
  • Despite the danger, the FDA has removed safety requirements designed to protect women and weakened the reporting requirements for adverse events caused by RU-486.

Abortion-inducing drugs are dangerous. Official reports from the Arkansas Department of Health reveal that between 2020 and 2022 at least 1 in 50 women who took abortion drugs in Arkansas experienced complications.

Over the years, Arkansas’ state legislators have enacted various laws prohibiting abortion and preventing abortion drugs from being delivered by mail in Arkansas. But the FDA and the federal government have taken steps that threaten to undermine these good, pro-life laws.

This new data from the Ethics and Public Policy Center once again shows abortion drugs not only kill unborn children but also harm women. That’s simply one more reason why our state needs to protect people from these dangerous drugs.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Governor Signs Budget Measure Providing $2M for Moms in Need

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Last week Gov. Sanders signed a measure budgeting $2 million for grant funding to charities that help women with unplanned pregnancies.

H.B. 1202 by the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee provides $2 million in funding for grants to pregnancy help organizations.

Under H.B. 1202, grant money can go to pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes, adoption agencies, and other charitable organizations that provide material support to women with unplanned pregnancies.

The State of Arkansas also can award funding to charities that promote infant and maternal wellness and reduce infant and maternal mortality by:

  • Providing nutritional information and/or nutritional counseling;
  • Providing prenatal vitamins;
  • Providing a list of prenatal medical care options;
  • Providing social, emotional, and/or material support; or
  • Providing referrals for WIC and community-based nutritional services, including food banks, food pantries, and food distribution centers.

The measure makes it clear that grant money will not go to abortionists or their affiliates.

Since 2022 Family Council has worked with the Arkansas Legislature and the governor to secure funding every year for pregnancy resource centers. These state-funded grants have helped support dozens of charities that assist women and children in Arkansas.

The grants are optional. Pregnancy resource centers are not required to accept public tax dollars if they do not want to. But for those who do receive grant money, the funding may make a tremendous difference.

Pro-lifers in Arkansas have worked hard to prohibit abortion. We need to work to make abortion irrelevant and unthinkable as well. Supporting pregnancy resource centers is one way we can do that.

Pregnancy resource centers give women real options besides abortion — making it less likely they will travel out of state for abortion or order illegal abortion drugs online.

With the governor’s signature, H.B. 1202 is now Act 1006 of 2025.

We want to recognize the Arkansas Legislature for proposing and passing this good law, and we want to thank the governor for signing it.

Act 1006 means Arkansas will be able to continue providing real support to women and families. That is something to celebrate!

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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