Case 2:22-cv-00223-Z Document 137 Filed 04/07/23 Page 53 of 67 PageID 4475
The resulting rupture “led to massive infection and a collapse of her vital systems.” Id. Amicus Human Coalition identified four of their clients who were unknowingly ectopic when they arrived at their clinic “with abortion pills in hand.” ECF No. 96 at 20. And at least two women died from chemical abortion drugs last year. See ECF No. 120 at 30 n.5. One of those women was an estimated twenty-one weeks pregnant. See id. Presumably, the fact that the woman obtained chemical abortion drugs more than two months past FDA’s gestational age cutoff suggests that no adequate procedures confirmed the gestational age in her case.
FDA has also reported at least ninety-seven cases where women with ectopic pregnancies took mifepristone.[1] But these data are likely incomplete because FDA now only requires reporting on deaths. See ECF No. 1 at 4. And as noted above, hospitals often miscode complications from chemical abortions as miscarriages. Studies show that women are thirty percent more likely to die from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy while seeking abortions if the condition remains undiagnosed.[2] A woman may interpret the warning signs of an ectopic pregnancy — cramping and severe bleeding — as side effects of mifepristone. In reality, the symptoms indicate her life is in danger.[3] Another study revealed that of 5,619 chemical abortion visits, 452 patients had a pregnancy of “unknown location” and 31 were treated for ectopic pregnancy — including 4 that were ruptured.[4] Yet another study examined 3,197 unique, U.S.-only adverse event reports dated September 2000
- ↑ FDA, Mifepristone US. Post-Marketing Adverse Events Summary Through 6/30/2022, http://www.fda.gov/media/164331/download.
- ↑ H.K. Atrash et al., Ectopic pregnancy concurrent with induced abortion: incidence and mortality, 162 Am. J. Obstetrics Gyn. 726 (1990).
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Alisa B. Goldberg et al., Mifepristone and Misoprostol for Undesired Pregnancy of Unknown Location, 139 Obstetrics Gyn. 771, 775 (2022).
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