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The RU-486 abortion pill
Developments from 2003 to now
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Developments during 2003:
 | 2003-JAN-15: RU-486 and similar pills used in about 6% of all
abortions: The Alan Guttmacher Institute estimates that during the first six months of 2001, more
than 37,000 non-surgical abortions were performed using
RU-486 and similar medication.
This represents approximately six percent of all abortions performed in
the country. 1 |
| 2003-FEB-20: Anti RU-486 bill introduced into the House:
Congressman David
Vitter (R-LA) has introduced a bill in the house that would restrict the
use of RU-486 (a.k.a. Mife[rex). Most pro-life activity is directed
towards a total ban on the use of RU-488. However Vitter has taken an
alternative approach: restricting the number of doctors who would be able
to administer the drug. Available data shows that
RU-486 is 35 times safer than continuing a
pregnancy and giving birth. 2 |
| 2003-JUL-21: Conflict over cheaper medication: Americans
generally pay more for their prescription medications than citizens of
other countries. In addition, costs of medication are even more onerous
in the U.S. because the country lacks a universal health plan which is
found in almost every other developed country. Present legislation
prohibits the importation of prescription drugs into the U.S. But some
Americans have gone on bus trips to Canada or have used the Internet to
obtain low cost medication. A bill before the House would legalize the
importation of cheap drugs. The pro-life movement appears to be split in
its support of the bill. Three groups which oppose abortion access have
issued conflicting statements:
 | The Traditional Values Coalition says that if the bill were
passed, RU-486 would become more easily obtained. |
| The Family Research Council said that "drug
re-importation [is a] bad idea, but not a pro-life issue." |
| In mid-July, the Republican Study Committee wrote in a memorandum
"The bill has nothing to do with abortion....In short, it would be as
illegal for the average citizen to acquire RU-486 after enactment [of
the proposed bill] as it is now." |
The statement of the Coalition appears to be a factual error,
because other existing legislation allows only hospitals and licensed
physicians to acquire and administer RU-486. 3 |
| 2003-SEP-17: Young woman died after taking RU-486:
Holly Patterson, 18, of Livermore, CA, died of complications after
taking RU-486 on 2003-SEP-10. Full details are not available. However,
she allegedly experienced bleeding and very severe cramps. She went to a
medical center and was only given painkillers. She went to a hospital a
few days later and died on SEP-17. Her father speculates that RU-486
induced a partial miscarriage. Fragments of the embryo remained inside her
uterus became infected and caused her to go into septic shock.
Her father, Monty Patterson, said, "I think it's a sad day when a
father has to bury his daughter because she suffered in silence. I think
it was fear and shame that made her decide she could do this, that she
could take a pill and make it all go away. If she could have just talked
to us, things would be different." Her mother, Deborah Patterson,
said: "We hope with Holly's passing that other families can come
together and take care of issues. We want to save other girls from the
same demise and heartbreak. It was so needless, so needless....We're in
this convenient society, this microwave society where things are quick
and easy, and they're not. Talk to your parents ... there's nothing so
bad that you could turn them away." 4,5 A
spokesperson for Danco Laboratories, the producer of
RU-486 in the U.S. estimated that 200,000 women in the U.S. have used
the pill. |
| 2003-NOV-1: Coroner's report confirms cause of Patterson's death:
Holly Patterson was seven weeks pregnant on SEP-10 when she received a
prescription for RU-486 from Planned Parenthood of Hayward, CA.
Apparently the embryo was not fully expelled from her body. This caused
a massive systemic infection. She died on SEP-17 of septic shock. Frank
Gentle, supervising coroner investigator. said that the cause of her
death was "septic shock, due to endomyometritis (inflamation), due to
therapeutic, drug-induced abortion." 6
At one death per 200,000 users,
taking RU-486 is about 14 times safer than continuing with the
pregnancy. Its safety is on a par with abortion via vacuum aspiration.
A bill was introduced to the House of Representatives to suspend sale of
RU-486. It did not proceed. |
Developments during 2004:
| 2004-NOV-17: Suspension bill
reintroduced: Two more women have died after taking RU-486 to end
their pregnancies. However, Dr. Steven Galson, acting director of
the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
said that he does not think that the drug was related to the fatal
infections that the women contracted. Representative Roscoe Bartlett
(R-MD) and Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) reintroduced a bill called the
RU-486 Suspension and Review Act. If passed, it would order a
review of the drug. It is commonly called "Holly's Law" and has
84 sponsors in the House and eight in the Senate. The bill never became
law. 7 |
| 2005-SEP-23: USA: FDA official resigns: FDA Commissioner
Lester Crawford resigned. He had only
spent 18 months at the post. Planned Parenthood said that his policy on
emergency contraceptive (EC) was to blame. He
had vetoed a recommendation of FDA staff members and experts to make EC
more easily obtainable. Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America
said that the FDA's approval of RU-486 was
responsible. She said: "The FDA has reported several women have died
after taking this drug and the only action the FDA took was to change the
wording on the warning label. We've been very disappointed with the FDA's
action on that, allowing this dangerous drug to stay on the market."
(The fatality rate associated with RU-486 is about the same as the death
rate caused by legal abortions, and is far lower than caused by completed
pregnancies.) 8 |
Developments during 2005:
| 2005-DEC-07: Lawsuit is heard by federal appeals court concerning
Ohio law: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends a 600
mg dose of RU-486, and recommends that it not be used after 7 weeks
gestation. However, some physicians prescribe drugs "off label." This
means that they deviate from FDA recommendations and follow "...the best
and most recent advice available. Medical literature shows that RU-486
can be safely used up to the ninth week -- and perhaps later -- and is
effective at much lower dosage. A 2004 law, passed to restrict access to
early abortion, states that any doctor who exceeds the FDA time limit or
deviates from the recommended dose is committing a criminal act and can be
sentenced to jail for up to 18 months. The time-limit/strength legislation
is unique in the U.S. RU-486 is the only drug limited by the State of Ohio
in this way. 9
More details. |
Developments during 2006:
| 2006-FEB-16: Australia: Ban on RU-486 abandoned: Australia's
lower House of Representatives voted with almost a 2:1 margin, to
remove the authority of Tony Abbott, the health minister, to prevent the
import and prescription of RU-486. SABC News describes Abbot as
a "conservative, [Roman] Catholic, anti-abortionist..."
The bill had previously been passed by a vote of 45 to 28 in Australia's
Senate. Applications to import and fill prescriptions of RU-486 will now be
handled by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, which regulates
medicines, medical devices, blood, tissues and chemicals.
10 |
| 2006-MAY-11: GA: Food and Drug
Administration study on RU-486: A panel of scientists are to meet in the
Atlanta campus of the Centers for Disease Control to discuss the deaths of
four California woman due to a deadly infection after using RU-486. The
bacteria involved are Clostridium sordellii and Clostridium difficile.
A fifth death of a Colorado woman is being investigated. One topic will be
whether the deaths are tied to the vaginal administration of misoprostol.
Danco, the manufacturer of the drug will be at the meeting. They note
that by the end of 2006-MAR, mifepristone had been used by about 575,000
women in the U.S. with "a very low rate of infection," that there is
no evidence that the vaginal administration causes an increased risk of
infections, and that there is no evidence of contamination of mifepristone.
11 |
References:
- Amy Westfeldt, "RU-486, similar pills accounted for 6 percent of U.S.
abortions, study finds," Associated Press, 2002-JAN-15, at:
http://www.nola.com/
- David Brody, "Bill to Restrict RU-486 Introduced," Focus on the
Family, 2003-FEB-20, at:
http://www.family.org/
- John Godfrey, "US Rx Drug Import Bill Prompts Fight Among Abortion Foes,"
Dow Jones Business News, 2003-JUL-21, at:
http://biz.yahoo.com/
- "California Teen Dies After Complications from Abortion Pill,"
Associated Press, 2003-SEP-33, at:
http://abclocal.go.com/
- Steven Ertelt, "Investigation Into RU 486 Abortion Death Begins,"
LifeNews.com, 2003-SEP-22, at:
http://www.lifenews.com/
- Matt Carter, "Autopsy data released in RU-486 death. Coroner confirms theory that Livermore teen
died of septic shock," Tri-Valley Herald, 2003-NOV-1, at:
http://www.trivalleyherald.com/
- Joyce Howard Price, "GOP seeks suspension of RU-486," Washington
Times, 2004-NOV-17 at:
http://www.washtimes.com/
- "FDA Commissioner Resigns Amid Controversy," Citizen Link,
2005-SEP-27, at:
http://www.family.org/
- Bill Sloat, "Doctors join foes of Ohio's pill limits. Ohio challenged on
use limitations," Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH, 2005-DEC-05.
- "Australia scraps ban on abortion drug," SABC News, 2006-FEB-16, at:
http://www.sabcnews.com/
-
Anna Mathews & Betsy McKay, "U.S.
Health Experts to Examine Infections, Ties to Abortion Pill," Wall Street
Journal, 2006-MAY-08. Page A6, at:
http://online.wsj.com/
Copyright © 2003 to 2006 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2006-MAY-10
Author: B.A. Robinson
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