Canada May Legalize Abortion Pill That Has Killed Dozens of Women, Injured Thousands

International   |   Mike Schouten   |   Jan 7, 2015   |   2:56PM   |   Ottawa, Canada

According to the Globe and Mail, Health Canada is close to making a decision regarding an application for RU-486 to be made available in our country. The decision is a long awaited one as it has been over two years since the application was made by Linepharma International. From the Globe and Mail:

Linepharma International applied to have its 200 mg mifepristone tablet approved in October, 2011. The company refiled its application in October, 2012, at the request of Health Canada, which was seeking more “quality documentation,” Linepharma’s chief operating officer said.

ultrasound4d46For those not aware, mifepristone, otherwise known as RU-486 is a drug that interferes with the hormones necessary to sustain pregnancy. When taken by a pregnant woman in the first trimester of pregnancy it will force her to miscarry her child.

Abortion advocates are getting impatient and are hoping the abortion drug will be made available very soon. On the other hand, Canada’s anti-abortion activists are praying Health Canada will consider the detrimental effects RU-486 has had on women’s health in countries where it is already in use. According to Johanne Brownrigg of Campaign Life Coalition, “In 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported 2200 adverse effects, including 14 US deaths, 58 ectopic pregnancies, 256 infections, and 339 incidents requiring transfusions.”

Should anti-abortion groups even be concerned? Does it really matter how abortions are performed when they are legal for any reason throughout an entire pregnancy anyway? Because RU-486 is only used early in the first trimester and we are so far away from regulating those abortions anyway, is it prudent to invest time and energy into trying to prevent its use in Canada?

I would submit that, yes, we absolutely need to be concerned! In addition to RU-486 posing a serious threat to women – and of course their pre-born child – it is clearly an expansion of access to abortion. And it seems to be happening without any public debate as Health Canada will not allow input from the Canadian public when such an application is made. A spokesperson from Health Canada is quoted as saying, “Health Canada is bound by laws preventing disclosure of confidential information that is proprietary to the respective manufacturer. Once a submission is received, its existence or non-existence within the department remains confidential, proprietary information until it is approved.”

The Conservative government along with all the political parties in Ottawa have denounced any attempts at debating abortion in the House of Commons. This was most recently manifested by the harsh opposition to even discussing something as benign as Motion 408 which only sought to condemn gender selective abortions.

The news that the approval of RU-486 is imminent, with no debate, smacks of hypocrisy.

This expansion of access to abortion through the back door flies in the face of transparency and is not in line with proper democratic processes. Rather than legalizing a whole new form of abortion, Canada needs our elected lawmakers to ensure we have a full abortion debate in Parliament about not only this drug, but everything else related to abortion as well.

LifeNews Note: Mike Schouten is the director for WeNeedaLAW.ca, a public awareness campaign building support for abortion legislation.