Ohio Abortion Pill Safety Law Blocked, Women’s Health Jeopardized 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 23, 2004
Columbus, OH (LifeNews.com) — Putting women’s health at risk, a federal judge on Wednesday blocked enforcement of an Ohio law that requires abortion practitioners to adhere to safety guidelines issued by the Food and Drug Administration when dispensing the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug. The law was scheduled to take effect today.
Under the measure, it would have been a crime to prescribe the abortion drug to women who are more than seven weeks pregnant, fulfilling a recommendation by the FDA. The law also says only doctors can prescribe the abortion drug.
Abortion advocates filed suit against the law claiming it is unconstitutional because it contains no exception for protecting women’s health — even though the law is designed to protect women from botched abortions later in pregnancy.
Judge Susan Dlott issued the injunction saying that the abortion facilities would likely prevail in the lawsuit.
"We’re very pleased with the ruling. Judge Dlott did the right thing,” Cincinnati attorney Alphonse Gerhardstein, who represents the Planned Parenthood abortion businesses, told the Associated Press.
Kim Norris, spokeswoman for Attorney General Jim Petro said the state had no made a decision whether to appeal the decision, but said the state would ultimately prevail.
Pro-life advocates say Planned Parenthood is ignoring dangers associated with the abortion drug — including death of a California teenager who died from an infection as a result of using the two-part drug and another teen in Sweden.
"It is appalling that Planned Parenthood claims to be interested in protecting women’s health, but is trying to avoid complying with basic health and safety requirements for RU-486 that were adopted under the pro-abortion Clinton administration," Denise Mackura, Executive Director of Ohio Right to Life told LifeNews.com.
The California teenager, Holly Patterson, died at a Planned Parenthood facility near San Francisco. Her father is meeting with FDA officials this week to discuss stronger enforcement of safety regulations.
Planned Parenthood has come under fire for disregarding several FDA suggestions to increase safety and misuses an ulcer drug to complete the abortion process. Searle, the maker of the drug, issued a nationwide letter to doctors saying it is not intended to produce an abortion and using it as such places women’s health at risk.
Related web sites:
Ohio Right to Life – https://www.ohiolife.org
