Abortion Drug Hurt Over 600 Women in Addition to Five Deaths 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 28, 2005
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Last week, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed that five women have died from using the dangerous abortion drug RU 486. However, neither the federal agency nor Danco Laboratories, the maker of the mifepristone abortion pill, disclosed that the drug caused sometimes severe health problems for more than 600 women.
"Last week’s FDA announcement on RU 486 mentioned the deaths linked to RU 486, but neglected to release information about near-fatal adverse events," said Wendy Wright, of Concerned Women for America, a pro-life women’s group.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, CWA received public documents from the FDA listing over 600 adverse events cited by women using the abortion drug. Two OB/GYNs asked by the group to assess the reports found they included 220 cases of hemorrhage that were either life-threatening or extremely serious — 71 of which required blood transfusions.
In addition, 392 reports indicated women required surgery to repair damage resulting from the abortion, including many under emergency conditions.
Wright says the FDA needs to be more forthcoming about the risks associated with the abortion drug and to make the information about both deaths and severe health problems public. She also called on the agency to pull the Mifeprex abortion drug from the market while it reviews its safety.
"Women trust that the FDA is doing its job to protect our health," said Wright. "To continue this trust, the FDA should withdraw its approval of RU-486 before more women die."
The information about the hundreds of health problems women faced comes a day after a Brown University researcher announced he has developed models to explain why women died after using the abortion drug.
According to professor Ralph Miech, MD, Ph.D., the abortion drug triggers a bacterial infection in a woman’s cervical canal that doesn’t normally occur. The bacteria thrives on the decaying tissue from the dying unborn child and impairs the woman’s ability to fight off the infection.
Miech’s research confirms admissions from both the FDA and Danco that women may not show signs of the infection until it’s too late.
"The FDA allows the death toll to mount and confesses to being ‘baffled’ by the deaths," Wright said. "Thanks to the hard work of [Miech], we may have the answer to why RU 486 causes harm to women as well as their babies."
Three of the American women who died after using the RU 486 abortion pills had the C. sordellii bacteria present in their systems upon investigation. The status of the other two women is unknown.
The county coroner who examined the body of California teenager Holly Patterson, who died in September 2003 after using the abortion drug she obtained at a Planned Parenthood business, said the bacterial infection brought on by the abortion pills caused her death.
