RU 486 Claims the Lives of Two More Women
Thursday, October 28, 2010 (2:54 pm)
by Marshall Ramsey II, Worthy News Correspondent
Washington, D.C. (Worthy News)– The Centers for Disease Control has recently published a report stating that two more women in the United States have died as a result of using the abortion drug RU 486. The report was issued mere days after the 10 year anniversary of the FDA's approval of the drug.
As reported by Steven Ertelt of LifeNews.com, the two women died after developing a Clostridium sordellii infection after using the drug. Clostridium sordellii is an anaerobic, spore forming rod capable of causing medical conditions such as pneumonia, endocarditis, myonecrosis, and others.
Early deaths linked to RU 486 include four women from California. Each woman died within a week of using the drug which was obtained from Planned Parenthood, an abortion services provider. Although Planned Parenthood had told women to use the drug vaginally, they eventually changed their policy to conform to FDA protocol which declared oral use safer.
Other Deaths
American women are not the only ones to have died from using RU 486. Four other women, one from Canada, two from England, and one from Sweden, have also died from using the drug. The European manufacturer of the drug goes so far as to say there are dozens more confirmed deaths from women who have used RU 486 that have largely gone unreported.
Monte Patterson, whose daughter Holly died after receiving the drug from a San Francisco Planned Parenthood clinic has stated he is disappointed to hear the news. "The FDA is responsible for protecting the public health," he said. "They need to reevaluate the risk, safety, and efficacy of the drug they approved 10 years ago."
Mr. Patterson says Planned Parenthood's change of protocol doesn't necessarily make RU 486 safer for women and pointed out that one woman died from using the abortion drug orally instead of vaginally.
"There is no proof or evidence in scientific literature of the safety of this new regimen," he says. "Since 2001, there have been eight reported deaths with the use of vaginal misoprostol. However, an 18 year old woman died using the buccal misoprostol (oral) administration of the drug."
In animal and cell culture studies, University of Michigan researchers found that when misoprostol is given directly in the reproductive tract, it suppresses key immune responses and can allow the previously mentioned Clostridium sordellii to cause deadly infection.
Dr. Randy O'Bannon, director of research for National Right to Life, told LifeNews.com previously that earlier studies showed the mifepristone drug also caused problems.
"Authors of this study claim that vaginally administered misoprostol may suppress the body's immune response, making infection more likely," he explained. "Earlier studies have suggested that RU 486, or mifepristone, the first drug used in the chemical abortion process, may itself have immunosuppressive qualities."
"As long as both of these drugs are being used as abortifacients, it will be important to try and nail down how one or both of these drugs contributed to eight known infection deaths among women who took the two drug regimen," Mr. O'Bannon said.
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Steven Ertelt
