Women’s Group Posts FDA Info Showing RU 486 Abortion Drug Complications 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 26, 2005
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Women considering an abortion with the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug now have easy access to information from the Food and Drug Administration showing the approximately 600 cases of complications.
Concerned Women for America is posting on its web site public documents it obtained from the federal agency under the Freedom of Information Act. The documents reveal how the abortion drug has caused everything from deaths to severe bleeding to the need for emergency surgeries following the abortion.
"Abortion proponents claim that RU-486 is safe. These documents prove otherwise," said Wendy Wright, CWA’s senior policy director.
"When the FDA approved RU-486 under intense political pressure in the waning days of the Clinton administration, the extent of the damage was anyone’s guess," Wright explained. "Now evidence is available through Adverse Events Reports filed by doctors, Danco (the drug’s distributor) and women themselves."
In providing the documents to CWA, the FDA ensured the women mentioned in them had their privacy protected. Before releasing the information, FDA officials redacted any personal-identifying medical information.
CWA applauded the agency for releasing the redacted information instead of arguing it shouldn’t be made available because of the personal information.
Wright said the documents confirm three deaths associated with RU 486, including that of California teenager Holly Patterson.
Her father, Monty Patterson, has pushed for the FDA to increasing the intensity of its warning labels and filed a lawsuit against Danco Laboratories and Planned Parenthood. He also has lobbied Congress to pass legislation suspending sales of the abortion drug, also known as mifepristone, while its safety is reviewed.
"RU-486 has one purpose: to kill a human being. These reports show that many times there are two victims," Wright explained.
"Women have a right to know the risks associated with RU-486, to know what’s happened to other women who have taken this drug. If this information had been available earlier, perhaps some women could have been spared the devastating effects," Wright concluded.
Related web sites:
The Adverse Events Reports can be viewed at https://www.cwfa.org/articles/7282/CWA/life/index.htm
Women who suffer, or doctors who treat, complications caused by RU-486 can file an Adverse Event Report through the FDA’s MedWatch Web site, found at: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch
