Complications from abortion pills are increasingly miscoded, study shows

June 5, 2025

A recent study, using data from the U.S. Center for Medicaid and Medicaid Services from 2016 to 2021, shows emergency room visits caused by complications from taking the abortion pill are being miscoded.

The Christian Post reports that the study is based upon 28,534 emergency room visits made by Medicaid patients within 30 days of having either having taken the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol or having had a surgical abortion.

The report is the product of collaboration between the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), the research arm of the pro-life grassroots advocacy organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and researchers at the University of North Carolina, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Florida-based Elliott Institute.

 The report shows that of 16,146 emergency room visits following a surgical abortion that occurred from 2016 to 2021, 1,240 (7.7%) were miscoded, up from 1.3% between 2004 and 2015.

It also shows that 18% of the 12,388 emergency room visits following the ingestion of abortion pills in those six years were miscoded, compared to just 4.7% of emergency room visits following a chemical abortion between 2004 and 2015.

According to the Christian Post, 18% of the 12,388 emergency room visits following the ingestion of abortion pills in those six years were miscoded.

Meanwhile, 88% of the 1,240 miscoded emergency room visits following surgical abortions were coded as high acuity.

CLI Vice President and Director of Data Analytics Dr. James Studnicki described the situation as a “public health crisis” more than a “documentation error.”

Studnicki also noted that whenever “abortion-related emergencies are disguised as miscarriages, it impairs a doctor’s ability to make informed, evidence-based decisions.”

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