A federal appeals court ruling has reopened more than 500 lawsuits claiming that taking Tylenol during pregnancy caused autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children. But the ruling does not change what the scientific and medical consensus says about acetaminophen's safety in pregnancy, and every major medical organization continues to recommend it as the first-line pain and fever reliever for pregnant people.
On July 13, 2026, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled that a federal district court judge had improperly excluded expert testimony in cases brought by parents and guardians who tied prenatal acetaminophen use to autism and ADHD in their children. The ruling does not determine that Tylenol causes autism. It determines that the excluded testimony reflected methodologies used by other scientists and was admissible as expert opinion, and it returns the cases to the trial court for further proceedings.
