New Details Emerge in Swedish Teen’s RU 486 Abortion Death
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 16, 2004
Uddevalla, Sweden (LifeNews.com) — The mother of a Swedish teenager who died after using the RU 486 abortion drug is distraught following her daughter’s death and has come forward with new details not found in government reports.
Rebecca Tell Berg, a 16 year-old girl from the west coast city of Uddevalla, died on June 3, 2003 after she was given the abortion drug, which is called Mifegyne in the Scandinavian country.
Johan Lundell, of the Swedish pro-life group JA till Livet (Yes to Life), tells LifeNews.com that Rebecca’s mother, Catharina Tell, is broken-hearted and angry.
"I can’t understand that I wasn’t told about Rebecca wanting an abortion," Tell said. "Rebecca told me, four days after the abortion. She was just 16 years old."
Tell found out from the police that her daughter died and she blames the hospital for Rebecca’s death.
Rebecca was just over seven weeks pregnant when she decided to have the abortion.
One week after meeting with a gynecologist, Rebecca returned to the hospital where she was given three 200 mg Mifegyne abortion pills. Two days later she returned and was given two Cytotec (Misoprostol) pills.
Misoprostol was originally approved to treat ulcers, but it has been used to induce contractions in some pregnancies and to expel the dead baby in drug-induced abortions. The American maker of the drug says such off-label use could have dangerous consequences for women.
Rebecca took the second dug in the morning and by mid-afternoon, she was in severe pain and bleeding heavily. She was given pain medication.
At 4:30, hospital staff sent Rebecca home after a "big blob" had "come out." She scheduled a follow-up visit for a month later before she left.
Unlike in the case of Holly Patterson, Rebecca was kept at the hospital for eight hours for observation to make sure no excessive bleeding occurred. Patterson was given the abortion drug by a Planned Parenthood facility to take at home with no medical supervision.
Rebecca was living with her mother, but she had been staying with her boyfriend, 19 year-old Niklas Mattsson, at his apartment the night before she died.
Days after the abortion, Rebecca was still bleeding and in pain and Mattsson encouraged Rebecca to visit the hospital. But hospital officials told Rebecca she could bleed for as much as two weeks after the abortion, so she chose to stay home.
Mattsson fixed Rebecca breakfast and left the apartment. When he returned, he found the breakfast untouched and Rebecca dead in the shower.
A county coroner’s report confirms that Rebecca died as a result of blood loss following a chemically induced abortion.
"Rebecca didn’t want to have a chemical abortion, but the doctor told her that it was much better than having a suction abortion," Tell says.
Authorities say all of the country’s rules were followed in the case — which prompts pro-life advocates to point to the inherent dangers associated with the abortion pill.
"From what we can see, all the rules were followed and the girl was given the correct dosage," Ingemar Persson, of the Swedish Medical Products Agency, told AFP.
A report released by the California Department of Health Services in their investigation into the death of Holly Patterson reveals that Planned Parenthood failed to follow its own internal policies for informing women on how to use the RU 486 abortion drug that was responsible for Holly’s death.
The state health agency said Planned Parenthood of Hayward did not have Patterson sign one of the three forms the abortion business says it normally requires women obtaining chemical abortions to sign.
An Alameda County Coroner’s report confirmed that the use of RU 486 resulted in an incomplete abortion that led to uterine infection and caused Holly’s death.
Related web sites:
JA till Livet (Yes to Life) – https://www.jatilllivet.se
