RU-486: Convenient or Catastrophic?

RU-486: Convenient or Catastrophic?

Cynthia Hill, M.P.P
Christopher Gacek, J.D., Ph.D.

American abortion statistics for 2005 were recently released by the research arm of Planned Parenthood, the largest U.S. abortion provider. The numbers indicated that as total American abortions declined to 1.2 million (down from 1.3 million in 2000), the percentage induced using drugs--mainly using RU-486 with a prostaglandin--increased from 6 percent in 2001 to 13 percent in 2005.

As RU-486 use increases worldwide, the public needs more relevant medical information about this drug. While RU-486 is touted as a quick, non-surgical fix to unwanted pregnancy, its profound health risks remain largely unpublicized. There have been numerous reported complications stemming from infection, hemorrhage, ectopic pregnancies, and incomplete abortions. These dangers are well recognized within the medical community.

In the December, 2005, Annals of Pharmacotherapy, two obstetrician-gynecologists, Peggy Gary and Donna Harrison, analyzed 607 RU-486 adverse event reports (AERs) obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Freedom of Information Act. The AERs were submitted between September, 2000 and September, 2004. (Alarmingly, the FDA estimates that it receives AERs on only 1 to 10 percent of actual cases with complications.)

Four Americans and one Canadian have died from septic shock following RU-486 abortions.  Sixty-six infections were reported - forty-six were serious or life-threatening.  Septic shock also characterized four non-fatal infections.

The hemorrhage reports were stunning: 237 were submitted, 68 patients required transfusions, and 42 cases were life-threatening.  By Spring 2007, the FDA had over 1,300 RU-486 AERs including 150 reporting transfusions and one indicating the death of a Swedish teenager "from massive hemorrhage."

Another potentially lethal side effect stems from ectopic (non-uterine) pregnancies whose symptoms are masked by the cramping and bleeding of the medical abortion process. When an ectopic pregnancy ruptures, the patient will bleed to death without immediate surgery. Gary and Harrison found reports of 17 ectopic pregnancies, with 11 ruptures, and one death.

Five to ten percent of the time, RU-486 abortions are incomplete. Therefore, it is not surprising that the doctors saw reports of 513 women requiring surgical follow-up. Hardly a slight danger.

The reality is that RU-486 has the potential to severely damage a woman's health--sometimes with finality. Now, the term "right to life" must extend to the mother, as well as to the unborn.

Cynthia Hill is Senior Director of State and Local Affairs.  Christopher Gacek is Senior Fellow of Regulatory Affairs at Family Research Council, Washington, D.C.   Reprinted with permission of the Irish Family Times (15-21 February 2008); this version has been modified slightly.