Throughout the last few years, health-care professionals, academics, and members of the media have implored Americans to “trust the science” regarding a variety of issues. For example, Sara Miller McCune, the co-founder of academic publisher Sage Publishing, said she was “proud to say that Sage is a company that advocates for policy that will enable science[…]”
But when it came to a group of studies about abortion, Sage failed to stick to the science and retracted the studies without justification. The decisions not only hampered scientific progress but also caused irreparable harm to multiple authors.
Three scientifically sound studies
From 2019 to 2022, ten professional researchers authored three scientific studies about abortion. Sage peer-reviewed the studies and published them in one of its medical journals, Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology (HSRME).
The editor-in-chief of HSRME even emailed the lead author of two of the studies, Dr. James Studnicki, and praised them as “fine contributions” to the journal. He also publicly commended one of the articles as fulfilling the journal’s scientific “vision.”
But in 2023, a federal court cited two of the studies in an opinion in an Alliance Defending Freedom case called U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. The court ruled that the FDA wrongly approved the abortion drug mifepristone and should have required in-person dispensing requirements for the drug.
Unjustified retractions
After the federal court issued its opinion citing the studies relating to the dangers of abortion drugs, a pro-abortion advocate filed an anonymous complaint about one of the studies that the authors were affiliated with pro-life organizations. But the authors had already disclosed these affiliations during the review process.
Rather than standing up for science and its own peer review process, Sage retracted not just the article complained of, but three of the authors’ scientific studies about abortion. Sage tried to justify its decision, but as explained in a letter the authors sent to the publisher with detailed scientific rebuttals of each concern, none of the reasons Sage provided amounted to valid objections about the studies. Sage never replied to the authors’ scientific response.
The publisher also claimed that the authors did not declare their pro-life affiliations as conflicts of interest. But the authors fully disclosed their affiliations and complied with all of Sage’s conflict-of-interest declaration requirements. What’s more, Sage routinely publishes articles by authors with pro-abortion affiliations who do not declare them as conflicts of interest.
Finally, Sage claimed its own double-blind peer-review process was flawed because one of the reviewers who recommended the studies be published has pro-life affiliations. But Sage selected this reviewer itself, and neither the reviewer nor the authors knew each other’s identity. There were also multiple other reviewers who did not have pro-life affiliations and still recommended the studies be published.
ADF takes legal action against Sage
In November 2023, Sage issued a retraction notice for all three studies. The authors responded in detail to Sage’s flawed reasons for retractions, but Sage retracted all three studies in February 2024 without ever responding to the authors’ rebuttal. It also removed Dr. Studnicki from the HSRME board for his personal views.
Because of these retractions, the authors have faced verbal attacks from the media, other scientists, and even a sitting Supreme Court Justice. Perhaps even more concerning is the fact that these authors have seen new research proposals turned down because of Sage’s unjustified retractions.
By censoring these pro-life authors without any justifiable cause, Sage has harmed the authors’ reputations and deprived the public of objective, honest reporting that these authors can provide.
So, in October 2024, ADF attorneys filed a motion to compel Sage to come to the table for arbitration as its contract with the authors requires.
Studnicki v. Sage Publications
- February 2024: Sage improperly retracted three studies about abortion.
- October 2024: Attorneys with ADF and Consovoy McCarthy PLLC filed a motion to compel arbitration on behalf of the studies’ authors.
