European Company May Try to Bring Dangerous Abortion Drug to Australia

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Apr 16, 2007   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

European Company May Try to Bring Dangerous Abortion Drug to Australia Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 16
, 2007

Canberra, Australia (LifeNews.com) — A European company may try to be the first to sell the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug nationwide in Australia after the nation’s parliament approved a bill allowing a regulatory commission to approve requests to sell it. The nation’s pro-life Health Minister had previously been responsible.

Following the parliament vote, a Cairns abortion practitioner and Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne filed applications to sell the drug locally.

But, an unnamed company in Europe may become the first to sell the drug nationwide and could submit an application soon to do so.

The Canberra Sunday Times said pro-abortion members of the Australia Parliament told it that they were upset it has taken so long to get sales of the drug across the island nation following last year’s vote to strip Health Minister Tony Abbott’s authority to block the drug.

Australian Democrats leader Lyn Allison claimed Abbott is still using his position to bully companies out of applying to sell the drug but a spokesman told the newspaper that allegation is "erroneous."

Any company wanting to sell the abortion drug nationwide may have to pay as much as $150,000 AU because of the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s requirements.

Thirteen women from the United States, Canada, England, France and Sweden have died after using the abortion drug mifepristone. In several cases in the U.S. women contracted a lethal bacterial virus shortly after using it.

FDA figures show that, in the United States alone, more than 1,050 women have had medical problems after using the abortion drug. In addition to the deaths there have been nine life-threatening incidents, 116 blood transfusions, and 232 hospitalizations.