Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood on Thursday for claiming abortions pills are “safer than Tylenol,” a common pain relief drug.
“It is vile that Planned Parenthood cares more about lining their pockets than providing women with factual information about the health risks of chemical abortion drugs,” Uthmeier said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “When it comes to health and safety in Florida, we won’t tolerate blatant lies using fabricated medical ‘facts’ that have no scientific basis.”
In a complaint filed in a state court in Santa Rosa County, Uthemeier accused the abortion organization of “making false claims about the safety of abortion drugs,” and pointed to Planned Parenthood’s statements claiming the pills are “safer than Tylenol.” The lawsuit accuses Planned Parenthood of violating state law against deceptive and unfair trade practices and alleges its activities amount to “racketeering.”
“Planned Parenthood and its various Florida actors know this claim is false. They know it badly misleads the women who seek information about the safety and risks of chemical abortion. They know that the profitable abortion pills they sell are far more dangerous than commonplace over-the-counter pain medication,” the lawsuit alleges. “They know the serious risks and harms from taking abortion pills. In other words, they know this deceptive marketing campaign will induce women to become customers of risky and harmful chemical abortions.”
The lawsuit points to a shocking study released in April suggesting complications from mifepristone, the first drug used in a two-drug medication abortion regimen, are 22 times higher than previously reported.
The new study from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) found that 10.93 percent of women who had mifepristone abortions experienced severe complications including sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days following the abortion. The percentage is significantly higher than the less than 0.5 percent in clinical trials reported on the FDA-approved drug label. The study is based on analysis of data from an all-payer insurance claims database that includes 865,727 prescribed mifepristone abortions from 2017 to 2023.
The study has led the FDA and HHS to conduct an ongoing safety review of the abortion pill, and Republicans are calling for the reinstatement of earlier safeguards around the drug that were eliminated under the Obama and Biden administrations. Abortion organizations and Democrats have rejected the study’s findings.
Planned Parenthood officials called the lawsuit a “politically motivated attack” aimed at further limiting abortions in Florida. Abortion is restricted after six weeks of pregnancy in the state with limited exceptions.
“Anti-abortion lawmakers and officials are relentless in their effort to end access to all abortion care, and to stop patients from getting accurate medical information. We will continue to be just as relentless in our effort to defend access to this safe, effective care,” Susan Baker Manning, general counsel for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America said in a statement.
“See you in court,” Manning added.
The state is seeking estimated damages of $350 million and is asking the court to consider making Planned Parenthood sell off real estate, ordering the organization to be dissolved, or barring it from performing abortions.
The lawsuit is similar to another complaint filed by the attorney general of Missouri in July. The next hearing in that case is expected to take place in February, according to the Associated Press.
Planned Parenthood has an informational page on its website in which it compares abortion pills to other common medications, per the report.
“Medication abortion is very safe. In fact, it’s safer than many other medicines like penicillin, Tylenol, and Viagra. Serious problems are rare, but like all medicines, there can be risks,” the website reads.
In 2023, medication abortions accounted for 63 percent of all abortions within the formal U.S. healthcare system — meaning an estimated 642,700 unborn babies died in medication abortions, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute. The percentage was up from an estimated 53 percent in 2020 and 39 percent in 2017. The report did not account for abortion pills obtained through underground national and international networks, including those that send pills to women in states with abortion restrictions.
In a medication abortion, mifepristone blocks the action of progesterone, which the mother’s body produces to nourish the pregnancy. When progesterone is blocked, the lining of the mother’s uterus deteriorates, and blood and nourishment are cut off from the developing baby, who then dies inside the mother’s womb. The drug misoprostol (also called Cytotec) then causes contractions and bleeding to expel the baby from the mother’s uterus.
The case is Florida v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, No. 235301468 in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial Circuit in and for Santa Rosa County, Florida.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton
