Mifepristone is the first of two drugs used in combination to end a pregnancy.
The pill blocks the hormone progesterone, which is necessary to maintain a pregnancy.
According to the FDA, since 2000, there have been five deaths associated with Mifepristone for every 1 million people in the United States who have used the drug. That’s a death rate of 0.0005%.
By comparison, the risk of death from penicillin, a common antibiotic, is 4 times greater. The risk of death from Viagra, used to treat erectile dysfunction, is nearly 10 times greater.
Of course, pregnancy and childbirth carry certain risks to the mother.
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According to the CDC, the maternal death rate for 2021 – the year for which the most recent data is available – was 32.9 deaths per 100,000 live births. That is dramatically higher than the five deaths per million for Mifepristone.
The FDA said potential side effects of Mifepristone include dizziness, weakness, vomiting, headache, diarrhea, nausea, fever, and chills. More serious side effects include blood loss, hospitalization, or a significant infection. Those happen in less than 0.3% of patients.
Mifepristone should not be used in the case of an ectopic pregnancy. A lack of adequate screening for that contraindication is cited in the court documents by the plaintiffs. The FDA has confirmed two fatal cases of ruptured ectopic pregnancies among the estimated 5.6 million users.
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