Abortion Pills Generate Worry Among Providers
The abortion pill RU-486, which may have caused two women to die recently following its use, is now sparking concern among some abortion providers.
WASHINGTON – The abortion pill RU-486, which may have caused two women to die recently following its use, is now sparking concern among some abortion providers, causing them to voice their increasing hesitation on prescribing the pill.
With reports of two more deaths in March of women who used of the ''Plan B'' abortion pills, some doctors are voicing their dismay with the pill that was claimed to be at least as safe as surgical abortion.
“None of these women should be dying, it’s shocking,” Dr. Peter Bours, an abortion provider in Portland, Ore., told the New York Times last week.
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After receiving the latest reports, a provider in Denver, Dr. Warren Hern, preferred surgery over the drug, calling the pills “a lousy way to perform an abortion,” according to the Times.
In total there are six women who have died in the United States after taking Mifeprex, according to reports by the Food and Drug Administration, while one person was reported in Canada.
Though the Food and Drug Administration has not confirmed the cause of the latest two deaths, in at least one of them, the woman's symptoms appeared to resemble those in the cluster of four cases in California where the women died from an infection of the bloodstream, or sepsis, after taking the drug.
Last Wednesday, key representatives gathered on Capitol Hill to confirm in a press conference their support of the RU-486 Suspension and Review Act, or “Holly’s Law,” aimed at pulling the drug off the market.
The legislation was introduced in March 2005 and has 79 House co-sponsors. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) introduced the Senate version of the bill which has 11 co-sponsors.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) “strongly supports” this legislation and is actively lobbying for its passage.
“Two more families are grieving because the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) refuses to pull this dangerous drug from the market,” said Wendy Wright, President of CWA, in a statement released last Friday. “By giving its approval, the FDA participates in the deception that RU-486 is ‘safe.’
“How many women must die before the FDA will act? Are their lives less important than making abortion convenient?”
During last Wednesday’s conference, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) noted that most of the reported deaths from RU-486 have come from California because, according to the FDA, only coroners in California are testing for the specific bacterial infections that result in complications and death. As a result, many more women could potentially have died from RU-486, but their deaths have gone unnoticed because not all coroners are looking for specific signs in autopsies, CWA reported.
“If we had withdrawn this drug,” Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) said, “at least two women would be alive today.”
