scientific journal publisher Sage retracts important abortion research The case has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court, with a hearing scheduled for March 26.
On Monday, Sage announced the retraction of three studies published in the journal Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology. All three were led by James Studnicki of the Charlotte Rozier Institute, the research arm of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. The publisher said the retraction was based on various issues related to the research methodology, analysis, and presentation, as well as undisclosed conflicts of interest.
Two of the studies were cited by anti-abortion groups in lawsuits against the Food and Drug Administration (Hippocratic Medical Alliance vs. FDA), argued that the regulatory authority’s approval and regulation of mifepristone was unlawful. The two studies were also cited by Texas District Judge Matthew Kacsmalik, who last April issued a preliminary injunction revoking the FDA’s approval of mifepristone in 2000. A conservative panel of judges on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans partially reversed that ruling months later, but the Supreme Court froze the lower court’s order until the appeals process was completed.
Mifepristone is considered safe and effective by the FDA and medical experts and is used in more than half of abortions in the United States.
criticism
Amid legal controversy, the now-retracted study drew immediate criticism from experts who pointed to flaws. Of the three studies, the most influential and heavily criticized is his 2021 study titled “.Longitudinal cohort study of emergency room utilization after chemical and surgical abortion with mifepristone (1999-2015)” (PDF). This study suggests that up to 35 percent of women on Medicaid who had a medication abortion between 2001 and 2015 visited an emergency department within 30 days afterward. .The main argument was that medication abortions led to higher rates of emergency department visits, which are better than surgical abortions.
Critics point out a number of problems. The study looked at all emergency department visits, not just abortion-related visits. This could provide medical care beyond abortion-related conditions, as Medicaid enrollees lack access to primary care and often rely on emergency departments for routine care. When the researchers tried to narrow down the visits to only those involved in abortion, they found that they included medical codes unrelated to abortion, such as codes for ectopic pregnancy, and the severity of the symptoms that prompted the visit. I couldn’t figure it out. Medication abortions can cause bleeding, and women may go to the emergency room if they don’t know how much blood is normal. The study also counted multiple visits from the same patient as multiple visits, potentially inflating the numbers. Finally, this study did not extrapolate the data to situations in which Medicaid beneficiaries generally used the emergency department over a period of time.
In contrast to Studnicki’s study, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says: A study that looked at tens of thousands of medical abortions found that “serious side effects occurred in less than 1 percent of patients, and serious adverse events (significant infection, blood loss, hospitalization) occurred in less than 0.3 percent of patients.” “I do,” he concludes. There is little risk of death. ”