LIFE DIGEST: Two more deaths attributed to RU 486
- Oct 5, 2010 -
The abortion drug RU 486 has taken the lives of two more American women than was previously reported, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Oct. 1.
CDC officials acknowledged the deaths of a 29-year-old woman in 2008 and a 21 year old in 2009 in a letter to The New England Journal of Medicine, LifeNews.com reported. Their deaths bring to eight the number of women in the United States who have died after using RU 486, according to the CDC.
Also in this edition: Texas attorney general rules against abortion clinics, Sandwich bag helps save preemie’s life, Second state suspends abortion doctor’s license, and Maryland abortion clinic closes, pro-lifers say.
“Abortion proponents claim that abortions should be ‘safe, legal and rare,’” said Jeanne Monahan, director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council. “Yet RU 486 use is increasing and its safety record is entirely dubious, as these two deaths prove.”
Sept. 28 was the 10th anniversary of RU 486’s approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
RU 486, also known as mifepristone, is used as the first part in a two-step process in the first seven weeks of pregnancy. Mifepristone causes the lining of the uterus to release the embryonic child, resulting in his death. Misoprostol is taken two days after mifepristone and causes a woman’s uterus to contract, expelling her baby.
The drug is used in 20 percent of U.S. abortions performed in the first seven weeks of pregnancy, said Lawrence Finer of the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion research organization, USA Today reported.
On Aug. 13, the FDA gave approval to “ella” as emergency contraception, saying it functions primarily to restrict or postpone ovulation. Pro-life organizations, however, charge “ella” is more closely related to RU 486 than to emergency contraceptives Plan B and Next Choice, which are already on the market.
The FDA approved “ella” as emergency contraception “despite the fact that it shares an almost identical chemical make-up and identical modes of action with RU 486,” Monahan said. “Given the strong resemblance, there is reason to believe that the negative side effects will also be similar. Women should not be the ‘guinea pigs’ of the abortion industry or the government.”
Texas attorney general rules against abortion clinics
Abortion clinics in Texas must be licensed to dispense the abortion drug RU 486 and may not use prerecorded telephone messages to fulfill the state’s informed consent law, Attorney General Greg Abbott said recently.
Responding to a request from State Rep. Frank Corte, R.-San Antonio, Abbott issued two written opinions Sept. 24 that pro-life advocates hailed as victories in protecting the safety of pregnant women.
Regarding the use of an abortion drug, such as RU 486, the attorney general said Texas law requires licensure of abortion facilities and the prescription or provision of a drug to terminate a pregnancy “may be an abortion” under state law.
Abbott acknowledged the text of the informed consent law is unclear but said “it is more likely than not that a court would construe the phrase ‘orally by telephone or in person’ to mean that an abortion facility may not use either a prerecorded telephone message or a one way conference call” to provide the necessary information 24 hours before an abortion. The information includes the medical risks of abortion.
Joe Pojman, Texas Alliance for Life’s executive director, said his organization is “pleased with these two opinions because they are major victories in the struggle to require Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to protect the health of women. Attorney General Abbott has confirmed what common sense already tells us.”
Sandwich bag helps save preemie’s life
A sandwich bag helped preserve the life of a baby girl born 14 weeks early.
Lexi Lacey weighed only 14 ounces when she was born in June at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in England, according to the Telegraph. Health-care providers at the hospital, which is equipped to care for babies who are at least 28 weeks of gestation, had to go to the institution’s kitchen to find something to keep the 26-week-old preemie’s body temperature warm enough. A plastic sandwich bag was the “smallest insulating jacket” that could be found, the newspaper reported.
She has grown to a weight of 5 pounds, 6 ounces, the Telegraph reported Sept. 28.
“[I]t’s incredible to think that [sandwich bag] saved her life,” Chelsea Rowberry, Lexi’s 17-year-old mother, told the newspaper. “The doctors told us they had never known a baby born as prematurely as Lexi [to] survive.”
Lexi has been home since Sept. 3.
Second state suspends abortion doctor’s license
An abortion doctor has had his medical license suspended by the second state in about a month.
The Delaware Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline suspended the license of George Shepard Jr., 88, Oct. 1, according to The Wilmington (Del.) News Journal. The Maryland Board of Physicians had suspended Shepard’s license in its state, it was reported Sept. 3.
The Maryland board charged Shepard with unprofessional conduct and with aiding abortion clinic operator Steve Brigham in defying credentialing mandates. Shepard serves as part-time medical director of Brigham’s Maryland clinics. Delaware officials began investigating Shepard after Maryland took action, The News Journal reported.
“It is important that Delaware take action in conjunction with Maryland to ensure Dr. Shepard does not subject Delawareans to unsafe practices,” said Raymond Moore Sr., president of Delaware’s Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline.
Maryland abortion clinic closes, pro-lifers say
A Maryland abortion clinic has closed its doors after its operator, Romeo Ferrer, had his medical license suspended, pro-life advocates reported.
The Gynecare Center in Severna Park, Md., is shutting down, pro-lifers were told by the clinic’s staff Sept. 23, LifeSiteNews.com reported. Pro-life advocates said they are uncertain if the clinic is permanently closed or if it will reopen if Ferrer finds another doctor to perform abortions, according to LifeSiteNews..
The Maryland Board of Physicians suspended Ferrer’s medical license Sept. 8, as a result of his failure to care properly for a 21-year-old woman who died after he performed an abortion on her in 2006. She was 16 weeks pregnant. The board found Ferrer, 69, gave her too much anesthesia and failed to monitor her condition according to his own policy.
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