Outside experts found that two studies cited in a federal case on medication abortion had serious design problems and that their authors had undisclosed conflicts of interest

A medical journal has retracted two studies examining the safety of the abortion pill mifepristone after a federal judge in Texas cited them when ruling that the drug should be taken off the market.

The studies, both retracted because of methodology problems and conflicts of interest, claimed abortions involving mifepristone are associated with an increased risk of serious complications compared with procedural abortions. Those conclusions are in contrast with hundreds of studies in the past two decades that have found that mifepristone—currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in abortion through 10 weeks of pregnancy—is safe and effective. Mifepristone is used in combination with the drug misoprostol in nearly all medication abortions in the U.S., and medication abortions constituted more than half of abortions nationwide in 2020.

A third study that was written by the same authors but not referenced by the judge was also retracted; it was about doctors who prescribe mifepristone. All three papers were published in Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology, which is published by Sage Journals. They appeared in the journal in 2019, 2021 and 2022.