A group of researchers has initiated a legal case against a publisher that retracted several studies on abortion pill risks, claiming the studies were removed due to political motivations.
Ten researchers from the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute initiated legal proceedings against Sage Publishing, alleging that Sage violated contract laws in California when the journal withdrew three studies, including two regarding abortion pill risks, earlier this year.
The lawsuit aims to prompt Sage to enter arbitration regarding these retractions, which were implemented in February. Dr. James Studnicki, vice president and director of data analytics at the institute, asserted that the retractions damaged the authors’ reputations and contravened scientific publication ethics.
Sage’s official retraction notice mentioned that an independent review was triggered by a reader’s complaint alleging misleading data and authors’ affiliations with the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute.
Dr. Studnicki, who was also removed from the editorial board of Sage’s Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology journal months before the retractions, criticized Sage’s actions as politically motivated.
One of the challenged studies, published on November 9, 2021, cited a 500% increase in emergency room visits linked to chemical abortions from 2002-2015, based on Medicaid data.
Another study from May 2022 examined repeated ER visits among women who did not inform their physicians of undergoing chemical abortions. These studies were referenced in federal court decisions about mifepristone’s FDA approval suspension.
Abortion pill dangers were highlighted last month when Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris falsely claimed a woman in Georgia died due to an abortion ban but was actually killed as a result of using mifepristone.
Despite the dangers, pharmaceutical retailers like CVS and Walgreens announced earlier this year they would be dispensing the drug.
