Britain Study Claims Using Abortion Drugs at Home Safe for Women 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 15, 2006
London, England (LifeNews.com) — A new British study claims women can safely have abortions at home using abortion drugs. The report comes on the heels of an announcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that it is convening a panel of experts to study why five American women have died from the abortion drug.
A pilot project in southern England studied 172 women who took abortion drugs at home and reported that none suffered from serious complications. Some women reported pain and were given painkillers and one woman reporting hemorrhaging.
The British Department of Health reported the results in the latest issue of Nursing Standard.
The study was the first time women had been given the drugs outside of a medical facility or an abortion center.
About the woman who suffered from hemorrhaging, Shirley Butler, who manages the pilot project, told Nursing Standard, "if she had been at home she would have called our helpline and she would have been given help."
There was no explanation as to where the woman was when she developed the post-abortion problems.
Despite claims of success, pro-life groups said the study is faulty because it doesn’t account for long-term problems or any emotional or psychological consequences.
Julia Millington, of the ProLife Alliance, told the BBC, "Abortion, in any circumstance, is a traumatic experience for a woman."
"But they haven’t considered the psychological effects," she explained. "I can’t imagine anything more traumatic, than for women to go through this alone at home."
In the U.S. some 15 to 20 scientists who have studied the infections will be asked to present their findings at a May conference to determine why the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug has caused severe bacterial infections that have resulted in the deaths of four women and injuring hundreds more.
Eight women worldwide have died from using the abortion drug, including five in the United States and one in Canada, Sweden, and the U.K.
