Credit: Robin Marty / Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) / Flickr
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has joined a coalition of 16 other attorneys general asking federal regulators to roll back what they describe as unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone, the widely used abortion pill.
Since its 2000 approval, mifepristone has been a safe and trusted option for abortion and miscarriage care, according to Tong’s office. More than 7.5 million people have used the medication, with studies showing it carries far fewer risks than many common over-the-counter drugs, according to data submitted to the FDA.
Medication abortion is now the dominant method in Connecticut, with mifepristone used in nearly 70 percent of abortions in 2024 and 68 percent in 2023, according to information in the petition. Safety reporting shows complications are extremely rare: in 2021, three out of 6,163 procedures involved incomplete abortions or retained tissue, and in 2020, two out of more than 5,500. None were classified as serious safety events.
In nearly 25 years, the FDA has recorded 36 related deaths nationwide — none of which were directly caused by the medication itself — according to the petition. The attorneys general called that a remarkable safety record with a fatality rate of 0.00048 percent.
Despite this track record, the mult-state petition argues that burdensome restrictions to access remain in place, particularly in rural medically underserved areas. A March report by the Health and Human Resources Administration stated that Connecticut had 46 designated primary care Health Professional Shortage Areas, impacting about 694,859 residents.
Tong called the drug “safe, legal, and effective” and said the FDA restrictions were political, not for patient safety.
“We’re going to keep fighting on every possible front to protect the rights of women and patients to make decisions free from needless political interference,” Tong said.
The petition comes in a time of federal uncertainty. In May, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a Senate Committee that he had ordered the FDA to reexamine the rules regarding mifepristone and that any changes would ultimately go “through the White House, through President Trump.”
In the hearing, Kennedy indicated that the agency was reviewing other information while weighing recommendations, including a report by the Ethics and Public Policy Center that medical experts and advocates criticized as as methodologically unsound saying that the data skewed information such as classifying routine follow-up care and even untreated emergency room visits as “serious adverse events.”
Groups like the ACLU argue the review sets the stage for nationwide restrictions.
“If the FDA moves forward with this politically motivated review, that is a dangerous sign that the president is going back on his promises to voters not to restrict abortion access even further,” said Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, after Kennedy’s testimony.
Currently, the FDA requires prescribers and pharmacies to obtain special certification and obligates patients to sign a form before receiving the drug. The petition argues those requirements single out mifepristone in a way that stigmatizes both providers and patients while adding no medical benefit.
The action is the latest chapter in a years-long battle to protect access to medication abortion. In 2023, a federal lawsuit led by Washington State challenged FDA restrictions in response to a Texas lawsuit seeking to remove the drug from the market entirely. That year, Tong’s office issued a formal opinion clarifying that mifepristone remained legal in Connecticut despite conflicting federal court rulings.
Connecticut lawmakers have signaled strong support for reproductive health and abortion access amid federal funding cuts to Planned Parenthood, which serves roughly 51,000 patients each year at 14 state clinics.
In June, Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, co-chair of the Reproductive Rights Caucus, said, “We need to be clear that we will continue to be a state that stands up and protects women’s health. And so words are not enough. We need to take action.” In July, Tong joined other states in suing the Trump administration to block the defunding, which would have eliminated about $6 million in support. The 2025 state budget included $800,000 in emergency funding for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, a temporary boost in the Social Services Block Grant, and new FY26 investments in a Safe Harbor Account and emergency public health protections designed to preserve access to reproductive care, including codifying federal EMTALA emergency care standards.