Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey wants the Planned Parenthood Federation of America to pay at least $1.8 million for its promotion of the abortion pill, accusing the abortion giant of deceiving clients about the health risks to “cut costs and boost revenue.”
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Cole County Circuit Court said Planned Parenthood has downplayed the dangers of mifepristone, one of two drugs in the abortion-pill protocol, by describing it as “safer than Tylenol” despite research showing a serious adverse-effect rate of nearly 11%.
“The national Planned Parenthood organization is actively endangering the lives of women and girls across the country by spreading lies and disinformation about the powerful chemical abortion drug,” said Mr. Bailey, a Republican, in a statement.
The Food and Drug Administration label for mifepristone says that 2.9% to 4.6% of women are seen in emergency rooms after taking the pill, but places the frequency rate of “serious adverse reactions” at less than 0.5%.
That figure has been challenged by recent studies, starting with a largest-of-its-kind Ethics and Public Policy Center analysis of 2017-23 insurance data released in April, which found that 10.93% of women were treated for conditions including sepsis, hemorrhaging and infection after taking abortion pills.
“The facts are clear: more than 4.5 percent of women who take this dangerous drug end up in the emergency room, yet Planned Parenthood compares it to Tylenol,” Mr. Bailey said. “This is a blatant violation of Missouri law, and I will not allow a death factory to lie to Missouri women in pursuit of its radical agenda.”
The lawsuit seeks damages of $1,000 per day for the last five years, or about $1.826 million, for violating the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act’s ban on deceptive advertising.
Mr. Bailey also asked the court to order Planned Parenthood to pay $1,000 for every Missouri woman prescribed abortion pills by one of its affiliates in the last five years, as well as reimburse the state for Medicaid and other taxpayer-funded emergency care provided to women who suffered complications.
The lawsuit pointed to Planned Parenthood’s website, which says that “Medication abortion is very safe.”
“In fact, it’s safer than many other medicines like penicillin, Tylenol, and Viagra,” says Planned Parenthood under a section entitled “How safe is the abortion pill?”
“Serious problems are rare, but like all medicines, there can be risks,” it said.
The lawsuit cited a study by the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute that refuted the safety claim, finding that it was based on death rates from overdoses of Tylenol and other common drugs versus the prescribed use of abortion pills.
The pro-choice Guttmacher Institute dismissed such research as part of a “misinformation campaign” to discredit mifepristone, arguing that some women visit emergency rooms after an at-home abortion simply to ensure that they are no longer pregnant or that their bleeding is normal.
“The conflation of ER visits with serious adverse events is an alarm bell for shoddy science and a methodological flaw that has also featured prominently in other debunked anti-abortion research attempting to attack mifepristone’s safety record,” said Guttmacher in a June article.
The Washington Times has reached out to Planned Parenthood for comment.
FDA Administrator Marty Makary said in June that he will review recently raised safety concerns about the abortion pill, but the Missouri lawsuit represents the first time that a state attorney general has sued Planned Parenthood over its mifepristone claims.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said that “Attorney General Bailey is modeling leadership for the rest of the country by standing up to the abortion lobby and fighting for truth, transparency and the safety of Missouri women.”
“He’s showing real courage by holding Planned Parenthood accountable, and we applaud his bold action,” she said.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.