Australia Health Official Says Abortion Drug Has Risks That Should be Studied
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 10, 2005
Canberra, Australia (LifeNews.com) — Abortion advocates are facing significant hurdles from government officials in their bid to overturn a ban on selling the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug in Australia.
Sharman Stone, one of several Coalition MPs pushing for the change, is calling on doctors and medical groups in the country to press the government to change the law on the abortion drug after encountering resistance from top health officials.
Stone and other Liberal members had urged Christopher Pyne, the parliamentary secretary for health, to lift the ban, but Pyne’s response doesn’t give them much hope. He said there would be further obstacles to the Therapeutic Goods Administration approving the drug for use there.
Pyne pointed to the fact that the drug is responsible for the deaths of five women in the United States and others elsewhere.
"There are serious concerns about the impact on the health of women who have been prescribed RU486 in countries that allow its use, which the minister would be required to consider," he wrote to MPs.
"That is not to say an approval would be granted in Australia simply based on an application to register RU 486 going through the approval process," he added.
