CNN
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\n The Trump administration\u2019s health leaders are turning their focus to one of the common drugs used in medication abortion, mifepristone, according<\/a> to a letter to 22 Republican attorneys general.\n <\/p>\n \n The letter, signed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary, says \u201cHHS\u2014through the FDA\u2014 is conducting its own review of the evidence, including real-world outcomes and evidence, relating to the safety and efficacy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Data analyzed by CNN shows mifepristone \u2014 the first drug in the medication abortion process \u2014 is even safer than some common, low-risk prescription drugs, including penicillin and Viagra. There were five deaths associated with mifepristone use for every 1 million people in the US who have used the drug since its approval in 2000, according to the US Food and Drug Administration<\/a> as of 2023. That\u2019s a death rate of 0.0005%.\n <\/p>\n \n Comparatively, the risk of death by penicillin \u2014 a common antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections like pneumonia \u2014 is four times greater than it is for mifepristone, according to a study on life-threatening allergic reactions. Risk of death by taking Viagra \u2014 used to treat erectile dysfunction \u2014 is nearly 10 times greater, according to a study cited in the amicus brief filed by the FDA.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201c[Mifepristone] has been used for over 20 years by over five million people with the capacity to become pregnant,\u201d said Ushma Upadhyay, an associate professor in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at the University of California, San Francisco. \u201cIts safety is very well established.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Access to the drug has already been under fire recently. In 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected a lawsuit<\/a> that challenged the FDA\u2019s regulatory approach to mifepristone, with a ruling that allowed the pills to continue to be mailed to patients without an in-person doctor\u2019s visit.\n <\/p>\n \n Medication abortion has become the most common method for abortion, accounting for more than half of all US abortions in 2022, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n The growing popularity of medication abortion is largely because of its accessibility, said Abigail Aiken, associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin who leads a research group on medication abortion.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt reduces the cost, it reduces barriers where people may not want to go to a clinic,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n It is also a safer option than both procedural abortion or childbirth. The rate of major complications \u2014 like hemorrhages or infections \u2014 for medication abortions is about one-third of a percent, according to a\u00a02015 study<\/a>\u00a0conducted by Upadhyay. That means out of more than 11,000 cases, 35 experienced any major complications.\n <\/p>\n \n The likelihood of\u00a0serious complications via procedural abortion<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 performed second-trimester or later \u2014 is slightly higher than medication abortion at 0.41%, according to the same study. And\u00a0childbirth<\/a>\u00a0by far comes with the highest risk, at 1.3%.\n <\/p>\n \n Although misoprostol-only abortions are used around the world, they are less effective, associated with a higher risk of serious complications and often more painful than the mifepristone and misoprostol combination, she said.\n <\/p>\n