The first adult death in Australia attributed to the abortion drug RU486 has made headlines recently. Here is how a report in the Australian begins: “Australia has had its first death of a woman using the abortion pill to terminate her pregnancy at home. Health regulator the Therapeutic Goods Administration issued a notice to doctors and clinics to review their follow-up care in light of the ‘bedroom abortion’ gone wrong.
“The woman, unnamed by authorities, had been treated by the country’s largest private abortion service, Marie Stopes International Australia, in 2010. She is believed to have developed a streptococcus A infection and died of sepsis.
“The death, confirmed only now, is the only one to be linked to use of RU486 since its introduction to Australia in 2006 and is believed to be the first in at least a decade involving a sanctioned elective abortion. The case was reported to a coroner, but no inquest was convened despite the rarity of abortion-related deaths in Australia.
“Informed of it yesterday, the overseer of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s national maternal deaths register, Elizabeth Sullivan, said she could not recall another woman dying from an abortion in the 12 years she had kept the statistics.
“Both Marie Stopes International Australia and the TGA refused to release details of the RU486 fatality, citing patient confidentiality. The drug, also known as mifepristone, can only be prescribed by specially licensed doctors and is mostly used in early medical abortion by the ninth week of pregnancy.”
Given that I have written about this dangerous drug before, let me present here what I wrote in this article: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2006/02/22/clear-thinking-on-ru486/
“The academic journals are full of articles warning about the health risks. As but just one recent and representative example, see the research article ‘Analysis of Severe Adverse Events Related to the Use of Mifepristone as an Abortifacient,’ by Margaret M Gary MD and Donna J Harrison MD, published in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy, 28 December 2005.
“Because of these health concerns some leading feminists and pro-abortionists such as Dr Renate Klein of Deakin University are totally opposed to the importation of RU486. Even Germaine Greer is opposed to it. Thus this is not just a pro-life versus pro-choice battle, but a debate about medical health and human rights.
“But it is not just the many health risks to women that is at issue here. There of course is also the death of the unborn baby. Proponents of RU486 deceptively speak of it as ‘preventing pregnancy’ or as an ’emergency contraception’. But a new life has already begun. What RU486 does is prevent it from following its normal path of gestation, from implantation to birth.
“More specifically, the drug stops the action of progesterone which is naturally produced in a woman’s body and is essential to establish and maintain a pregnancy during its early stages.
“It is no wonder many are calling RU486 a ‘human pesticide’. But human beings are not pests, and no moral justification can be given for taking the lives of our youngest and most vulnerable members of the human family.”
The sad truth is, even before Australia agreed to allow the import of this drug in 2006, a number of women had died because of it. And things have simply gotten worse since then. Back in 2009 the manufacturer even admitted to nearly 30 deaths:
“Use of the abortion drug RU 486 has resulted in the deaths of 29 women worldwide, according to a new report. Exelgyn, the European manufacturer of RU 486, reported the total, which is more than twice the previous estimate, to the Italian Pharmaceuticals Agency (AIFA), LifeNews.com said in a July 31 article based on news media sources. The estimate had been 13 deaths, according to LifeNews.
“AIFA, meanwhile, approved RU 486 for sale in Italy for the first time, LifeNews reported. Previously, only surgical abortions had been available. Abortions have decreased in Italy for more than two decades. The number of abortions has fallen from more than 234,000 in 1982 to less than 137,000 in 2004, according to LifeNews.
“Eight women’s deaths in the United States have been associated with RU 486, as well as nine life-endangering situations, about 120 blood transfusions and more than 200 hospitalizations, Sen. Jim DeMint, R.-S.C., said in 2006. DeMint is a leading Senate opponent of the federal government’s approval of the abortion drug.
“RU 486, also known as mifepristone, is used as the first part in a two-step process in the first seven weeks of pregnancy. Mifepristone causes the lining of the uterus to release the embryonic child, resulting in his death. A second drug, misoprostol, is taken two days after mifepristone and causes the uterus to contract, expelling the baby. The FDA approved the sale of RU 486 in the U.S. in 2000, four months before President Clinton finished his second term.”
The Australian article also lists some other negative outcomes since the drug was approved for use here in 2006. These include:
-442 cases of “retained products of conception” [read: baby parts] requiring D&C (dilation and curettage) abortion or D&E (dilation and extraction) abortion.
-78 cases of ongoing pregnancy following treatment requiring D&E or D&C.
-18 cases of infection/suspected infection/endometritis.
-18 cases of significant post-partum haemorrhage requiring transfusion.
Yet even most appalling here in this case is the reaction of a leading proponent of the drug, who does not seem to give a rip about the death of the woman. She is only worried that there might be a backlash against this! “The revelation that Australia has recorded its first death related to use of the abortion pill RU486 has prompted a warning from the gynaecologist who supported the drug’s legalisation in Australia.
“Caroline de Costa, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at James Cook University in Cairns, was a prominent advocate for the introduction of medical abortion to Australia. Professor de Costa is urging doctors to review the way they care for women who have had a medical abortion and says she is worried the death will prompt a backlash against the drug.”
Needless to say this is one dangerous drug which never should have been given the green light in Australia in the first place. It not only kills unborn babies, but increasingly it is killing or injuring women.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/health/abortion-pill-death-sparked-warning/story-fn59nokw-1226303297539
http://erlc.com/article/life-digest-ru-486-death-toll-for-women-at-29/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-19/ru486-death-prompts-protocol-review/3899084
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