By Catrina Barker | The Center Square contributor
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois health officials push back on new federal guidance, saying Tylenol use in pregnancy does not cause autism. A lawmaker, who is also a physician, weighs in.

State Rep. Bill Hauter, R-Morton, is pushing back against the Trump administration’s handling of recent claims linking acetaminophen use during pregnancy to autism. He called the rollout “political” and “dangerous.” Hauter said the announcement lacked new evidence and contradicted established medical consensus.

“There was no new evidence, only a rehashing of older studies that medicine has already addressed,” Hauter said. “If there was a true risk, the FDA would issue a black box warning. That hasn’t happened because the science doesn’t support it.”

Hauter warned that telling women to avoid Tylenol during pregnancy could put mothers and babies at greater risk, since high fevers are a proven danger to fetal health.

“When there’s a known risk to babies from high fevers, and the only drug we have to treat that is Tylenol, telling women not to take it is reckless,” Hauter said. “A rare, reasonable dose is not a risk at all.”

While observational studies have suggested a correlation between Tylenol use and autism, Hauter said those findings don’t hold up under more rigorous sibling-controlled studies. He pointed out that confounding factors, like the underlying fever or pain that prompted acetaminophen use, are far more likely to explain the connection.

“Tylenol during pregnancy can be associated with a very increased risk of autism. So taking Tylenol is not good. I’ll say it, it’s not good,” said Trump during a news conference this week. “For this reason, they are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary. That’s, for instance, in cases of extremely high fever that you feel you can’t tough it out, you can’t do it.”

Harvard’s School of Public Health found that acetaminophen exposure increases risk for both autism and ADHD. Mount Sinai called the connection to neurodevelopmental disorders strong enough to warrant warnings for expectant mothers.

Hauter said the Trump administration press conference undermines medical credibility and could harm trust between doctors and patients

“Medicine lost a lot during COVID,” Hauter said. “People were coerced into vaccinations, natural immunity was ignored, and risks were downplayed. Now when we try to correct misinformation, patients think we have no credibility. That makes this Tylenol rollout even more damaging.”

Hauter noted the IDPH also has “little credibility.” Tylenol’s manufacturer has long advised caution for use during pregnancy. Hauter noted that many drug manufacturers avoid recommending use in pregnant patients, not because the medications are unsafe, but because they have not been studied in the kind of large clinical trials the FDA requires for formal approval.

“Overall they’ll say, ‘we don’t recommend it for special populations like pregnancy because it hasn’t been studied,’” Hauter said. “But physicians are still allowed to recommend it. We use so-called off-label prescribing all the time—from antibiotics to pain relievers—because we have the experience and evidence, even if the FDA hasn’t given an official indication for that use.”

The Illinois Department of Public Health maintains there is “no evidence of a connection” and emphasizes that acetaminophen is a safe and effective option for pregnant women when used as directed, noting that untreated fevers pose clear risks to pregnancy.