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RU 486: THE ABORTION PILL
>> Download PDF: RU 486: Has Killed Twelve Women
 Severe pain, uncontrollable bleeding, emotional anguish, and even death have already been attributed to the use of Mifepristone (RU 486), the French abortion pill. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which at one time issued an alert on the drug and banned it from personal use, issued an approvable letter to the Population Council on February 18, 2000, for the use of the abortion drug. According to the FDA, approvable letters to manufacturers are issued when remaining questions need to be resolved before final marketing approval can be granted.
RU 486 is a two-drug abortion process. Mifepristone causes the death of the unborn child by depriving her of nutrition. A second drug, misoprostol is given to induce uterine contractions, which then expels the now-dead baby. This chemical abortion method is typically used through the seventh week of pregnancy.
RU 486 FAILURE RATE:
RU 486 is not taken by itself because it has a failure rate of 20-40 percent. However, even with the prostaglandin, misoprostol, abortions have been incomplete. If the two deadly drugs do not accomplish the task, a surgical abortion must be performed to "finish the job."
RU 486 has been touted as a faster, easier abortion method but even combined with a prostaglandin the lethal concoction can take up to five days to expel the baby. In U.S. clinical trials, women experienced bleeding and spotting for an average of two weeks after the procedure. Nearly 70% of women needed medication for their pain.1 This uncertainty about where the woman will be when she aborts, along with the side effects of severe cramping and bleeding, demonstrate the fact that the drug mixture is not as painlessly simple as its proponents claim.2
RU 486 is said to be private because the abortion is drug induced and patients may leave the medical setting after taking the drugs. However, the danger of not being able to receive immediate medical attention should something go wrong is a serious one.
THE FACTS ON RU 486:
 During U.S. trials, nearly all women experienced "natural miscarriage-bleeding" and cramping. Sixty women required surgical intervention - in some cases, transfusions - for excessive bleeding.3
RU 486 is advised against for smokers and women under 18 and over 35 years of age. The drug may also be deadly for women with cardiovascular risks such as high blood pressure, obesity, cigarette smoking or diabetes; anemia or blood clotting disorders; menstrual irregularity, fibroids or endometriosis; asthma or bronchitis; allergies, epilepsy or adrenal insufficiency.1
The procedure requires at least two visits to the clinic or hospital.2 Failure to comply could lead to the retention of fetal tissue after aborting, infections that could cause sterility, carrying an undetected pregnancy to term and/or causing otherwise absent fetal anomalies.
Inadequate data leaves concern about the long-term effects of RU 486 on women. Still unknown about the use of the drug is its effect on women who have had repeat abortions, on survivors of a failed abortion attempt and on children from future pregnancies. With all of these dangers and so many unanswered questions, it seems apparent that the appropriate action by the FDA should be to deny approval of this deadly import.
THE FUTURE OF RU 486:
 Years of controversy and boycotts by pro-life groups have thus far prevented Mifepristone from being made available in this country for anything more than limited clinical trials. However, as they have for years, proponents assert that RU 486 should receive full approval and begin distribution in the United States soon.
The U.S.-based non-profit Population Council has licensed its rights to RU 486 to the Danco Group, a new start-up pharmaceutical firm in New York. Danco spokespersons claim they have found willing manufacturers and are working with the FDA for final approval. At this point neither the Danco Group nor the Population Council will identify the companies they claim are willing to produce Mifepristone, though such companies and their manufacturing processes must be examined by the FDA prior to approval.
>> Click here to learn more about RU-486.
Sources:
1: Population Council of New York, Release, October 27, 1994: Gianelli, Diane, "RU 486 effective, not problem-free," American Medical News, April 12, 1993.
2: Population Council, as cited in note 3.
3: Sophie Christin-Maitre, M.D., et.al., "Medical Termination of Pregnancy," The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 342 (March 30, 2000).
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