{"id":701400,"date":"2026-01-15T13:46:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T18:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/?post_type=quick-take&#038;p=701400"},"modified":"2026-01-15T13:46:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T18:46:29","slug":"senators-questions-about-mifepristone-could-further-spread-confusion-about-the-abortion-pills-safety-record","status":"publish","type":"quick-take","link":"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/quick-take\/senators-questions-about-mifepristone-could-further-spread-confusion-about-the-abortion-pills-safety-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Senators&#8217; Questions About Mifepristone Could Further Spread Confusion About the Abortion Pill&#8217;s Safety Record"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite mifepristone\u2019s 25-year safety record, the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on Wednesday framed as an inquiry into the abortion pill\u2019s safety. Statements, including from Committee Chair Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), described mifepristone as <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/video-clips\/5688294-watch-live-senate-help-hearing-abortion-pills\/\">putting women in \u201cserious danger,\u201d<\/a> despite no changes to the underlying evidence supporting the medication\u2019s safety. KFF polling has shown that public views of mifepristone are sensitive to public and political conversations around the medication. Public awareness of mifepristone has increased substantially in recent years amidst the overturning of <em>Roe v. Wade <\/em>and several high-profile Supreme Court cases related to medication abortion, rising from about one in five adults who had heard of the pill in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/womens-health-policy\/abortion-knowledge-and-attitudes-kff-polling-and-policy-insights\/\">2019<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/public-opinion\/kff-health-tracking-poll-knowledge-and-views-of-medication-abortion\/\">over half in 2025<\/a>. While recent attention may have led to increased awareness, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/health-information-trust\/flawed-report-aims-to-undercut-established-research-on-abortion-pill-safety-plus-how-a-federal-initiative-to-study-autism-may-overemphasize-environmental-toxins\/\">misinformation and flawed research <\/a>circulated in these debates may have also led to a decline in the public\u2019s confidence in the pill\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/womens-health-policy\/the-availability-and-use-of-medication-abortion\/\">Mifepristone was approved by the FDA<\/a> over 25 years ago and has since been used as a safe and effective medication to help end early pregnancies and manage miscarriages. Its safety record is well established, and a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jama\/fullarticle\/2843710?guestAccessKey=ffa9b37f-eb54-4b7f-a180-8554c58f4280&amp;utm_source=For_The_Media&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ftm_links&amp;utm_content=tfl&amp;utm_term=011226\">review of FDA internal documents<\/a> found that the agency\u2019s continued approval of mifepristone and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/womens-health-policy\/the-intersection-of-state-and-federal-policies-on-access-to-medication-abortion-via-telehealth-after-dobbs\/\">expansion of telehealth<\/a> has been grounded in scientific evidence rather than political considerations. The scientific evidence has remained consistent, suggesting that shifts in the public\u2019s perception are influenced by the political and legal scrutiny of the medication rather than recent developments in the medication\u2019s safety record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, a majority of adults (55%) in May 2023 considered the medication safe when taken as directed. Since then, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated at his Senate confirmation hearing that he intended to review the FDA\u2019s approval of mifepristone, and in September 2025 announced that he had asked FDA Commissioner Makary to conduct an official review. By November 2025, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/public-opinion\/kff-health-tracking-poll-knowledge-and-views-of-medication-abortion\/\">perception of the pill\u2019s safety had declined<\/a>. About four in ten (42%) now say that abortion pills are safe when taken as directed, a decline of 13 percentage points from two years ago. At the same time, there have been increases in the shares saying abortion pills are \u201cunsafe\u201d (18% now, up from 9% in 2023) and that they are \u201cnot sure\u201d (40% now, up from 35% in 2023). By suggesting mifepristone poses a danger to women who use it, anti-abortion senators are likely to create more confusion that could further erode the public\u2019s confidence in the&nbsp;abortion pill despite its decades-long safety record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite growing uncertainty about the pill\u2019s safety among the public, two-thirds of U.S. adults <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/public-opinion\/kff-health-tracking-poll-knowledge-and-views-of-medication-abortion\/\">continue to oppose policies<\/a> that would limit access to or criminalize medication abortion. However, hearings like Wednesday\u2019s, which focus on supposed safety concerns, have the potential to increase confusion among the public and shape how people understand and navigate medical care, as well as which policies they support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By suggesting mifepristone poses a danger to women who use it, anti-abortion senators are likely to create more confusion that could further erode the public&#8217;s confidence in the\u00a0abortion pill despite its decades-long safety record.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155412937,"featured_media":701419,"template":"","meta":{"exhibits":[],"authors":[{"type":"foundation","id":420878,"name":"","_id":"cd6dc5af-0683-4b45-aa7b-41e0543b2092"}],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","_classifai_text_to_speech_error":"","search_keywords":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[579145376,63719],"tags":[579144963,632330,9862],"program":[],"content-types":[579145484],"series":[],"class_list":["post-701400","quick-take","type-quick-take","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-information-trust","category-public-opinion","tag-abortion","tag-access-to-care","tag-courts","content-types-quick-take"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Senators&#039; Questions About Mifepristone Could Further Spread Confusion About the Abortion 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