Oregon, Washington attorneys general say Mifepristone is ‘safe’ amid FDA review

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A group of attorneys general are affirming the safety of Mifepristone amid a call for the Food and Drug Administration to review the abortion medication.

On Monday, the coalition of 20 attorneys general — including Washington Attorney General Nick Brown and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield — issued a joint statement emphasizing the safety of the medication and the need to protect its access.

“For more than 25 years, mifepristone has been used safely and effectively in the United States and globally. It is currently the most common method for early-term abortion care in the United States and is the standard of care for managing early miscarriage,” the attorneys general wrote. “The decision to reexamine access to this medication was made in response to a scientifically baseless letter and ignores decades of research that proves mifepristone is safe and effective. Medical decisions should be left between patients, their families, and their providers—and they should be guided by science, not political agendas.”  

“As state attorneys general, we have a responsibility to enforce state laws and protect our residents, including their access to reproductive care,” the statement continued. “If access to mifepristone is challenged, we will take action to protect it.”

The joint statement comes after FDA Commissioner Martin Makary and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the FDA would review mifepristone in response to a letter from Republican state attorneys general calling for restrictions or withdrawal of the medication from the market.

As reported by The Hill, calls to review Mifepristone arose after findings from a study released by the Ethics and Public Policy Center — a conservative think tank — which outlined “serious adverse effects” associated with the drug.

Earlier in September, Kennedy told lawmakers in a Senate hearing that the FDA is collecting new data for a safety review of mifepristone, saying, “those studies are progressing and that they’re ongoing,” as reported by CNN. During the hearing, Kennedy claimed that the Biden administration “twisted the data” on the abortion medication but did not detail safety concerns.

After receiving FDA approval in the year 2000, Mifepristone has been used in combination with the medication misoprostol — marking the only FDA-approved regimen to end an early pregnancy, the attorneys general noted in Monday’s press release.

According to the attorneys general, more than 7.5 million women in the United States have safely used Mifepristone for abortion or miscarriage management.

Data from the Washington State Department of Health has also found that of the nearly 30,000 medication abortions provided in the state in 2023 and 2024, an overwhelming majority had no complications and less than 0.2% led to a complication severe enough for hospitalization, Washington Attorney General Brown said in a press release.

Joining Oregon and Washington in the statement are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

In a statement shared with KOIN 6 News regarding the safety of mifepristone, a spokesperson for the Oregon Health Authority said, “Oregon Health Authority is committed to ensuring access to a full range of essential reproductive health services, including abortion. OHA wants to assure patients and providers that mifepristone and abortion remain safe, legal and available in Oregon. Mifepristone was first approved by the FDA more than 20 years ago and is a safe and effective method of ending an early pregnancy. In 2023, medication abortion accounted for 65% of abortions performed in Oregon, according to OHA data.”

KOIN 6 News has reached out to the FDA regarding the joint statement from the attorneys general. This story will be updated if we receive a response.