Ten scientists filed their opening demand against a major academic publisher after they say it retracted their work exposing the dangers of the abortion pill for political reasons.
In a recently filed arbitration demand, ten Charlotte Lozier-affiliated scholars say that Sage Publications discriminated against them and violated its contractual obligations when it retracted three of their studies, including two on the abortion drug Mifepristone. They want a judge to rule that the retractions were erroneous and that they were discriminated against based on their beliefs.
One of the now-retracted studies, published November 9, 2021, found that the rate of emergency room visits following chemical abortions had spiked 500% from 2002-2015, according to Medicaid claims data. Another one of the studies, published May 20, 2022, analyzed the likelihood of recurring emergency room visits for women who did not disclose to doctors that they had a chemical abortion.
These two studies were cited in Federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision to suspend FDA approval of mifepristone.
“Sage’s reasons for retracting the Articles were pretextual. Sage did not point to anything that could justify the rare and severe measure of retraction under prevailing professional guidelines, such as a major error or falsification,” the scholars’ opening arbitration demand filed by lawyers with the Alliance Defending Freedom and Consovoy McCarthy says.
The February 2024 retractions, which occurred weeks before the Supreme Court heard arguments on the availability of abortion pills, were first reported by The Daily Wire.
The lawyers argue that Sage breached its contract with the scholars, was guilty of negligence, and violated California’s civil rights law.
“The combined reputational and economic harm to the Authors from these unlawful actions is enormous and incalculable,” the filing adds. “Because of Sage’s retractions, the Authors and their research have been attacked by the media, by other authors, and even by a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Authors have had new research proposals inexplicably turned away by other journals that now fear associating with them. The Authors have years—even decades—of fruitful research ahead of them, but they are now being treated as pariahs.”
Dr. James Studnicki, one of the authors on the papers, was also kicked off the editorial board of Sage’s Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology journal, months before the retractions actually took place. The filing says that this was done for discriminatory purposes.
For resolution, the scholars say that a judge should rule that the scholars and Studnicki were discriminated against, that Sage violated its contractual agreement, a declaration that the retractions were erroneous, and monetary damages.
The scholars first filed their lawsuit against Sage in October 2024 in California. Sage did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
