Claim: Dr. Blasey works for a pharmaceutical company that makes “abortion pills,” and she is bringing accusations against Judge Kavanaugh to preserve abortion rights and protect her firm’s profits.
Verdict: Mostly false.
One of the more elaborate misinformation campaigns against Dr. Blasey involves claims that she worked for a pharmaceutical company that made abortifacient drugs. Because of these ties, the claims say, she was financially motivated to keep Judge Kavanaugh — who abortion-rights advocates worry would reverse Roe v. Wade and end legalized abortion in the United States — off the Supreme Court.
This theory unspooled on Facebook and Twitter, as well as on right-wing websites like Gateway Pundit and World News Daily. Operation Rescue, the anti-abortion group, called Dr. Blasey an “abortion pimp.”
Christine Blasey Ford: The Abortion Pimp's Tale?
https://t.co/LmILFHx4sR
— Operation Rescue (@operationrescue) September 24, 2018
The claim revolves around Corcept Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical start-up where Dr. Blasey worked several years ago.
Conservative activists singled out a drug made by Corcept Therapueutics — Korlym, also known as mifepristone — that the activists said was an off-label “abortion pill.” Mike Adams, a far-right blogger who is known for his promotion of pseudoscientific conspiracy theories, wrote on the website Natural News that “Blasey is a paid researcher for an abortion pill company with a lot to lose if Kavanaugh is confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Dr. Blasey did, in fact, work as the director of biostatistics for Corcept Therapeutics. And mifepristone can, in fact, be prescribed in combination with another drug, misoprostol, to terminate pregnancies.
But Korlym, the drug made by Corcept Therapeutics, was developed to treat Cushing’s syndrome, a rare, potentially deadly condition that causes the body to produce excess cortisol. It is not promoted for use in medically induced abortions, and it is far more expensive than the usual drugs used in those procedures.
In addition, there is no evidence that Dr. Blasey ever researched the drug’s use in terminating pregnancies, or has anything to gain financially from court rulings on abortions.
The unfounded theory about Dr. Blasey’s ties to an “abortion pill” provider is still traveling on Facebook. Gateway Pundit’s post has been shared nearly 20,000 times on Facebook, according to its website.