FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 24th, 2025
(Washington, D.C.): Earlier this week, Americans United for Life (AUL) submitted an administrative comment to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) opposing the citizen petition by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), which asks the FDA to remove the mifepristone Risk and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) or, alternatively, refrain from creating new safeguards or reestablishing prior safeguards for this dangerous drug.
In their petition, ACOG notably requests the removal of the “Elements to Assure Safe Use” for mifepristone, which includes the requirement that prescribers of mifepristone verify they can provide surgical intervention if a woman experiences a complication. Mifepristone’s remaining safeguards also seek to prevent women from receiving unapproved or misbranded chemical abortion drugs and ensure women’s informed consent through a patient agreement form.
AUL firmly stands behind protecting women from the harms of chemical abortion drugs, asking the FDA to deny ACOG’s dangerous citizen petition and instead reestablish safeguards that have previously been stripped away, including the in-person dispensing requirement and mandated adverse event reporting for non-fatal adverse events. AUL also urges the FDA to implement an additional safeguard that requires the performance of an ultrasound before mifepristone is prescribed in order to verify that the pregnancy is not a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy.
Danielle Pimentel, Policy Counsel for Americans United for Life, stated, “Ensuring the health and safety of pregnant women seeking chemical abortion drugs should be the FDA’s top priority when reviewing the mifepristone regimen. However, ACOG’s petition seeks to have the FDA eliminate its remaining safeguards for women taking chemical abortion drugs, as well as prevent the implementation of any future safeguards. This will only increase the rates of severe and potentially life-threatening complications. We urge the FDA to put women’s health and safety first and deny this petition.”
Steven H. Aden, Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel for Americans United for Life, emphasized, “By removing the remaining REMS from the mifepristone approval, ACOG is stripping women and girls of the protection of informed consent. This is preposterous given informed consent is an established tenet of ethical medical practice. As a leading professional medical organization, ACOG should be advocating for the protection of patient rights, not their deterioration.”
For more information or to arrange an interview with AUL, contact Gavin Oxley at press@aul.org or 202-987-3321.
Since 1971, Americans United for Life (AUL) has advanced the human right to life in culture, law, and policy by equipping advocates and lawmakers with the facts and strategies that change hearts and minds and protect human life. The first national pro-life organization in the country, AUL is a nonprofit, public-interest law and policy organization with a four-star rating from Charity Navigator.
