The Planned Parenthood abortion business has expanded its webcam abortions — taking the dangerous practice of denying women an in-person meeting with a physician before using the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug to Minnesota.
The practice started with the Planned Parenthood of the Heartland affiliate using it in Iowa, a rural state where the abortion business has a difficult time getting an abortion practitioner to each of its clinics. As a result, it set up a process by which the abortion practitioner only visits with the woman considering using the mifepristone abortion pill via a videoconference, as opposed to an in-person visit the FDA suggests.
With the drug having killed dozens of women worldwide and injured more than 2,200 alone in the United States, according to April 2011 FDA figures, pro-life groups have been concerned about Planned Parenthood putting women’s health at risk.
Now, officials with Wisconsin Right to Life inform LifeNews that Planned Parenthood has begun using the extremely dangerous RU 486 web-cam abortion technique in Minnesota. According to Planned Parenthood Minnesota spokesperson Connie Lewis, the organization began doing webcam abortions at their Rochester facility — making it the first time the abortion business has expanded doing abortions beyond the twin cities area.
Wisconsin may be next for the webcam abortion process.
“We have known for some time about Planned Parenthood’s deadly plan to bring RU 486 web-cam abortions to cities and towns throughout the nation. First it was Iowa, then Minnesota. Now it appears Planned Parenthood is set to begin expanding its abortion business here in Wisconsin,” says Susan Armacost, the legislative director of Wisconsin Right to Life.
“Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI) is already the state’s largest abortion provider but it is not content to limit the performance of abortions to its three abortions clinics in the state,” Amacost explained. “Now it appears it wants to offer dangerous RU 486 chemical abortions to women in towns and cities like Portage, Beaver Dam, Delavan and other Wisconsin locations where PPWI has not previously operated abortion clinics.”
“Since only a handful of doctors want to perform abortions, it would be difficult for PPWI to expand its surgical abortion operations. But by providing RU 486 web-cam abortions, PPWI can expand its lucrative abortion business without even having a doctor physically present,” Armacost goes on to say. “Web-cam abortions were initiated by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and piloted in Iowa where 2,000 of these abortions took place, with the intention of exporting this technique to other states. A woman enters a Planned Parenthood facility and discusses her abortion by web-cam with an abortionist in another city or perhaps even another state. After the information exchange, the abortionist presses a button which opens a drawer at the woman’s location. Her abortion drugs (RU 486 and prostaglandin, a labor-inducing drug) are in the drawer and the abortionist watches her take the medication via web-cam. The woman is never examined by the physician.”
RU 486 and its companion drug are administered between the fifth and ninth weeks of pregnancy, after pregnancy has been confirmed and the process typically involves three trips to a doctor. About half of the women abort while at the doctor’s office, with another 26 percent having an abortion within the next 20 hours at any location at home or in public. The remainder either have an abortion in the coming weeks or none at all of the drug fails to work — making it so a surgical abortion is required.
Through April, the FDA reports 2,207 adverse events related to the use of RU 486, including 14 deaths, 612 hospitalizations, 58 ectopic pregnancies, 339 blood transfusions, and 256 cases of infections in the United States alone. A European drug manufacturer has publicly stated that 28 women have died worldwide after using RU 486/mifepristone.
“Given the grave dangers associated with RU 486, Planned Parenthood’s potential plan to bring web-cam RU 486 abortions to towns and cities in Wisconsin should be of grave concern to anyone concerned with the health and welfare of women,” Armacost concludes. “Fortunately, legislation is pending in the state legislature to stop Planned Parenthood’s irresponsible plan to bring web-cam RU 486 abortions to cities and towns throughout Wisconsin.”
The WRTL legislative director says Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) and Assembly Representative Michelle Litjens (R-Oshkosh) are drafting the Woman’s Protection Act, legislation that requires that the administration of RU 486 or other similar abortion drugs be done in the same room and in the physical presence of the physician who prescribed or provided the drug. Reasonable efforts to ensure the patient returns for a follow-up visit are also required.
“Planned Parenthood’s utter disregard for the health and safety of women is appalling. It would be a tragedy if web-cam RU 486 abortion came to Wisconsin. Their deadly plan must be stopped in its tracks,” Armacost concluded.
