Australia Doctor Reprimanded for Offer of Drug-Induced Abortion at 20 Weeks
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 1, 2009
Brisbane, Queensland (LifeNews.com) — A physician in Australia has been reprimanded by a medical board for offering a drug-induced abortion to a woman 20 weeks into pregnancy. The dangerous abortion drug mifepristone is only intended for abortions to kill unborn children who are several weeks along.
Adrienne Freeman received a letter from the Medical Board of Queensland warning her that she would be putting the life of the pregnant woman at risk if she went through with the drug-based abortion.
According to a Courier Mail report, Dr. Mary Cohn, the chair of the board, authored the letter telling Freeman that she would also breach the conditions of her medical license by going through with the abortion.
"A woman being treated as an outpatient is unlikely to fully understand the implications of the procedure and would be unable to properly assess whether they required further treatment," Cohn said. "This type of procedure should only be performed in a facility where patients have the required level of professional support and post-procedure care."
This isn’t the first time the abortion practitioner has run afoul of the medical board.
Freeman was found guilty of unprofessional conduct by the Health Practitioners’ Tribunal in June after she helped a prostitute have an abortion of a 19-week-old unborn child at home.
The tribunal ordered Freeman to only do abortions that far along in pregnancy in a public hospital or private surgical center in case the abortion is botched and the mother needs immediate medical attention.
Freeman’s association with the abortion drug, also known as RU 486, is a long one.
In 2001, Freeman tried to get Australia to authorize the use of the drug but her application failed in 2001 when she withdrew it halfway through the process.
Years later, the Australian parliament allowed sales of the drug, which has killed more than 13 women across the world and injured more than 1,300 in the United States alone.
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