Planned Parenthood Distributed Abortion-Inducing Drugs Past FDA Approved Timeline, Says ADF
A coalition of doctors and a legal defense organization called for an investigation of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England's illegal sale of abortion-inducing drugs, which Planned Parenthood sold after the FDA's permission of 49 days from a women's last menstrual cycle.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)-allied attorney Michael J. Tierney says that the New Hampshire Planned Parenthood has been violating the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) protocols for abortion-inducing drugs, when it "publicly advertises" that such drugs may be taken at home and up to 63 days past the last cycle.
ADF and the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists presented Tierney's information to the New Hampshire Boards of Medicine and Nursing on Wednesday, requesting an investigation of New Hampshire's Planned Parenthood.
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One abortion-inducing drug, RU-486, or Mifepristone, has been tied to 2,207 health crises and 14 maternal deaths reported in a 2011 FDA study.
"I think people should be very concerned that Planned Parenthood and other abortionists believe that they should be held to lower standards of healthcare than any other healthcare provider," Michael J. Norton, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), told The Christian Post in a Wednesday interview.
Norton argued that, contrary to its rhetoric about women's health, Planned Parenthood is "only interested in the bottom line." Instead of providing a service essential to "women's rights," the organization focuses on abusing vulnerable women to make as much money as possible, he charges.
In April 2011 study conducted by the FDA, it was reported that there were 2,207 "adverse events" and 14 deaths from misuse of Mifepristone, an abortion-inducing drug with extremely severe side-effects. In addition to the 14 deaths, 612 hospitalizations and 48 severe infections were reported. These numbers, ADF argued, form a low-ball estimate, because they only consist of reports "voluntarily submitted to the drug company, which then passes on what they feel is significant to the FDA."
Norton, ADF's spokesman in this matter, expressed doubt that the organization will receive proper scrutiny. "There is a bias in the state system in favor of Planned Parenthood, as well as in the judicial system," he said.
The ADF spokesman traced Tierney's involvement with New Hampshire's Planned Parenthood to September 2011, when the Obama administration awarded a $1 million contract to Planned Parenthood following New Hampshire's decision to reject sending taxpayer money to the organization. "It has been an uphill battle for Michael Tierney," Norton said.
Tierney filed the first letter of protest to the New Hampshire Board of Pharmacy in July.
"Planned Parenthood will do everything it can to avoid complying with any sensible medical regulation that is warranted by science and by the facts," Norton said. He mentioned Iowa's recent ban on webcam abortions, noting that Planned Parenthood defended the practice in the name of "the health and welfare of rural women."
As in Iowa, Norton expects Planned Parenthood of Northern New England will argue that any regulations "interfere with a woman's 'right to an abortion.'" Focusing only on making money, the organization opposes any kind of safety regulations and pressures women who are seriously injured in abortions to keep quiet, he alleged.
While Norton is a Christian and believes that the best science shows that life begins at conception, the lawyer argued that "it doesn't matter whether one is for or against abortion in such cases." The abortion debate doesn't even enter the issue, because "our goal is to make sure abortion clinics are held to the same legal and medical standards."
