Abortion - RU-486
by: Jerry Price - Jan 9, 2006 - comments: 1
On September 17, 2003, Holly Patterson died after taking the RU-486 pill (mifepristone) followed by a prostaglandin chaser that is supposed to expel the dead embryo. Holly’s family was unaware that she was pregnant, nor did they know that a Planned Parenthood clinic had given her the abortion medicine until four days before she died. The RU-486 method is viewed by those who are pro-choice as a safe, non-invasive medical solution to an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy.
But is it safe? Since most medical complications associated with the regimen are “sanitized with one or more medical terms that obscure the truth” and since many families are not overly anxious to talk about medical problems involving a pregnant, un-wed teenager, the common answer is that it is safe. But Danco, the company that distributes the abortion pill that is made in China, has reported 400 complications to the Food and Drug Administration. These include “heart attacks, severe bleeding, life-threatening blood clots, respiratory distress and infection.” Two North American women have died after taking the drug. And further, Searle, the company that manufactures the drug that is taken as a follow-up for the purpose of expelling the dead embryo, “was so outraged that it issued a letter to physicians saying that this was off-label use for this drug that was never tested or intended for the induction of labor or abortion.” Indeed, the drug is used for the treatment of ulcers.
How did RU-486 get to the marketplace? It was approved by the FDA under the “Accelerated Approval of New Drugs for Serious or Life-threatening Illnesses.” In order for the FDA to make that happen, they had to declare the termination of an unwanted pregnancy as a serious or life-threatening condition. Jane Chastain, a columnist for WorldNetDaily and host of the Judicial Watch Report radio show, says, “This is unconscionable! A pregnancy is not an illness and the termination of one is not [due to] a serious condition.”
The Deadly Truth About RU-486, September 25, 2003 [Accessed August 25, 2005]
“When a woman is given RU-486 (also called Mifepristone), it kills her baby by interfering with progesterone, the hormone which keeps the baby implanted in the wall of the mother’s uterus. Two days later, the woman returns to the clinic to receive a prostaglandin drug which induces labor and expels the dead embryo (RU-486 is used until 7 weeks after the first day of her last menstrual period). If the baby hasn’t been expelled by the time the woman makes her third visit to the doctor, she will require a surgical abortion procedure (5-8 percent likelihood). Raymond, Klein & Dumble, the pro-abortion authors of RU486 Misconceptions, Myths and Morals, (IWT Pub, 1991) stress that RU-486 is not safe for women and list the following contraindications (reasons a person should not take RU-486): under age 18 or over 35; menstrual irregularities; history of fibroids, abnormal menstrual bleeding or endometriosis cervical incompetence, previous abortion, or abnormal pregnancies; pelvic inflammatory disease; recent use of IUD or the pill 3 months.”
Abortion Facts [Accessed August 25, 2005]
History of RU-486
The nonsurgical abortion drug has been controversial since it was created by French researchers a generation ago. The Food and Drug Administration recently launched an investigation into the drug regimen.
1980—Researchers at Roussel Uclaf synthesize a drug that blocks the hormone needed to sustain pregnancy. Its generic name is mifepristone.
1983—The Population Council, a nonprofit health research organization, gets FDA approval to test mifepristone in the U.S., and more than 300 women are given the drug during studies at USC.
1989—Mifepristone becomes available in France, after extensive protests from anti-abortion groups.
1991—Mifepristone is approved for use in the United Kingdom.
1993—President Clinton directs the Department of Health and Human Services to promote the testing, licensing and manufacture of mifepristone in the U.S.
2000—The FDA approves mifepristone in September. Two months later, Danco Laboratories begins distribution of the drug under the brand name Mifeprex.
2001—Brenda Vise, 38, of Chattanooga, Tenn., dies of a ruptured ectopic pregnancy after taking the drug combination. A Canadian woman dies of infection after that country’s drug trials.
2003—Holly Patterson, 18, of Livermore, Calif., dies of a blood infection after a medical abortion. A bill to establish Holly’s Law, to take Mifeprex off the market and review its safety, is introduced in Congress.
2004—Chanelle Bryant, 22, of Pasadena, dies of infection after a medical abortion.
2005—Oriane Shevin, 34, Sherman Oaks, dies of infection after a medical abortion. The FDA sends out a public health advisory warning of the danger of infection when using Mifeprex and misoprostol. Calls resume for the passage of Holly’s Law.
Maria L. LaGanga, “Abortion Pill Investigated in Four California Deaths,” http://www.newsday.com , August 15, 2005
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is conducting an investigation to determine why four women in California have died as a result of taking the RU-486 regimen to abort a child. They want to know if misuse of the drugs is to blame.
“When women use drugs to produce a chemical abortion, they engage in a two part process.
“The Mifeprex abortion pill essentially starves the unborn child by denying her the nutrients she normally obtains from the mother’s placenta. A second drug, misoprostol, causes contractions and produces a miscarriage that births the deceased child.
“However, misoprostol is not a drug meant to be used in abortions and Searle, the company that produces the ulcer medication, has warned doctors repeatedly not to use the drug in abortions.
“Meanwhile, FDA protocols call for using the misoprostol drug orally, like the Mifeprex pill. However, Planned Parenthood officials appear to instruct women to take the misoprostol pill vaginally, as they did with Patterson and Shevin.
“Dr. Philip Darney, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at University of California at San Francisco, told the Los Angeles Times the way the drugs are being administered could be causing problems.”
Steven Ertelt, New Details of RU 486 Abortion Deaths Emerge as CDC Investigates (LifeNews.com), August 15, 2005
Further Learning
Learn more about: Life, Abortion
1 comments (post your own) feed
1 On May 2nd, 2007, at 9:19am, Cynthia wrote:
i honestly think that this pill shouldn’t of been passed in the first place...me personality, I am against abortion