CNN —
After a federal judge in Texas ruled to suspend the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, the first drug in the medication abortion process, the US Supreme Court has temporarily extended access to it until April 21, a move meant to give the justices more time to consider the issue.
The Texas judge had sided with the coalition of anti-abortion national medical associations that filed the lawsuit. He argued that the FDA failed to adequately consider risks associated with the drug, including “the intense psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress women often experience from chemical abortion.”
However, data analyzed by CNN shows mifepristone is even safer than some common, low-risk prescription drugs, including penicillin and Viagra. There were five deaths associated with mifepristone use for every 1 million people in the US who have used the drug since its approval in 2000, according to the US Food and Drug Administration as of last summer. That’s a death rate of 0.0005%.
