GARRETT RILEY: The Missing Truth In “Choice” — Why Chemical Abortion Demands New Scrutiny
By Garrett Riley |
For decades, the rallying cry of “choice” has driven the abortion debate. Pro-abortion advocates paint it as a matter of personal liberty — a private decision between a woman and her doctor. But real choice demands full, honest information. And the latest evidence on chemical abortion reveals a disturbing truth that’s been hidden for too long.
A massive new study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center, analyzing over 865,000 chemical abortions from 2017 to 2023, shows that 1 in 9 women who take the abortion pill suffer serious medical harm. That’s nearly 11% of women dealing with severe complications like hemorrhaging, sepsis, and infection — consequences that can lead to permanent damage, emergency surgeries, or even death. Another 5% need additional medical interventions, exposing the pill’s failure rate.
For anyone who claims to care about women’s well-being, these numbers demand immediate action. For the government agencies that regulate drugs and healthcare, they require urgent oversight. And for those who genuinely believe in the “pro-choice” principle, they demand a clear-eyed rethinking of what real, informed choice means.
Choice Without Truth Isn’t Choice
“Choice” means nothing without accurate information. The abortion pill has been spun as “safer than Tylenol,” but that’s a blatant lie. The FDA’s official label for mifepristone claims a serious adverse event rate of less than 0.5% — over 22 times lower than what the real-world data proves.
No one can make a good decision if key facts are hidden. In any other area of medicine, these numbers would trigger an immediate recall or at least a thorough review of safety guidelines.
When the FDA fast-tracked the abortion pill in the 1990s, it was with a promise: that safety standards would be rigorously upheld. Today, those standards in Arizona— like mandatory ultrasounds, in-person exams, and physician oversight — are being threatened and have been stripped away in other states by abortion-rights legislation.
The result? A pill once administered under a doctor’s care is now shipped through the mail, often with no medical oversight. No follow-up exams. No real informed consent. Women facing vulnerability—particularly those under the coercion of abusive partners—are exposed to severe risks affecting both their physical and mental well-being.
Pills That Kill: Medicine Turned Upside Down
Abortion advocates call the pill “medication abortion,” as if it heals. But real medicine heals. Chemical abortion does none of that. It destroys innocent unborn children and puts women’s health at risk.
Calling abortion “medicine” is a dangerous lie. True medicine doesn’t harm or kill. No one who truly believes in women’s health can honestly call this “medicine.”
The original “safe, legal, and rare” mantra has vanished. Chemical abortions now make up 63% of all abortions in the United States — and in some states, as high as 80%. Each pill dispensed means more danger for women — not less.
We’ve gone from “safe, legal, and rare” to “dangerous, deregulated, and widespread.” That’s a betrayal of women — and of the very idea of healthcare.
This Is About Women’s Health, Not Politics
This isn’t about partisan politics. It’s about whether women can truly make informed choices. It’s about whether agencies like the FDA and HHS will honor their mission to protect the public — or cave to ideological pressure.
If you believe in choice, you must also believe in full, honest information. Anything less isn’t choice — it’s propaganda.
If you believe in human rights, you must recognize every human life’s inherent worth — and the dignity of every mother’s health and future.
If you care about healthcare safety, you can’t ignore these numbers. You must demand a full review of the abortion pill’s safety — and an end to the lies that have kept women in the dark for far too long.
Read the full EPPC report here.
Arizona Life Coalition Stands with Women’s Health
The Arizona Life Coalition, along with more than 100 pro-life organizations, has urged the FDA to act on this alarming evidence and reinstate the safety standards that once protected women. You can read that letter here.
What Can We Do?
We must ensure that every woman facing a crisis pregnancy has support and the truth — not abortion industry spin.
Demand that the FDA and other agencies incorporate this evidence into their safety evaluations. Share this information with your family, friends, and public officials. Urge them to reinstate common-sense safety standards. Push for a full review of a pill that seriously injures 1 in 9 women.
Medicine is meant to heal — not to harm and kill. Any healthcare policy or practice that does otherwise has no place in a just society.
Garrett Riley is the executive director of the Arizona Life Coalition, with a mission of inspiring pro-life choices through charity, education, and unifying collaboration.