2mo ago

How shoddy science is fueling a charge to restrict abortion pill access

www.nbcnews.com

The FDA has been tasked with re-evaluating the safety of mifepristone after a flawed report claimed it has a high rate of serious complications.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has tasked the Food and Drug Administration with conducting a safety review of mifepristone, a pill used in most U.S. abortions. Kennedy said this week that the review was warranted due to an “alarming” new report on serious adverse events released last month.

“Clearly it indicates that, at very least, the label should be changed,” he told Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., at a Senate budget hearing on Wednesday. “I’ve asked Marty Makary, who’s the director of FDA, to do a complete review and to report back.”

The report in question, which was neither peer-reviewed nor published in a medical journal, claims to find a 22-times higher rate of serious complications from mifepristone than reported by the FDA. It calls on the agency to “further investigate the harm mifepristone causes to women” and “reconsider its approval altogether.”

4 comments

The "report" is posted on the "Ethics and Public Policy Center" site, described thusly in Wikipedia:
The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) is a conservative[2][3] Washington, D.C.–based think tank and advocacy group. Founded in 1976, the group describes itself as "working to apply the riches of the Jewish and Christian traditions to contemporary questions of law, culture, and politics, in pursuit of America’s continued civic and cultural renewal."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics_and_Public_Policy_Center
The organization's mission statement sounds somewhat like an ostentatious version of MAGA. At any rate, on the page of this so-called "report", the identities of the members of the study are conveniently missing:
Our Research Project Team
Our research project was conducted and validated by a team of data scientists, analysts, and engineers, with assistance from our clinical team of board-certified obstetricians and gynecologists. Members have a history of academic research and peer-reviewed publication.
Imagine, for a moment if you will, dear reader, if all scientific research was documented this way by think tanks - particularly religious-based organizations like this one.
Science is not the problem. MAGAts are the problem.
The goal is, once again, dominion over women. That is what festering cultural wounds like Robert Kennedy and Josh Hawley seek.
Misinformation back 'round yet again.
Side note, why does he always look like he's having trouble pooping?