Pro-Life Group Tells FDA Not to Approve Abrotion Drug EllaOne Over the Counter
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 1, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A pro-life group today filed testimony with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs, urging the agency not to make the abortion drug ellaOne available over the counter. Abortion backers are misleading wmoen by saying the drug is a morning after pill.
Billed as a more powerful version of the Plan B drug and said to be able to prevent pregnancy days after conception, the drug only works as an abortion agent because conception will have already taken place.
“The FDA and abortion proponents are representing Ulipristal as if it were Plan B – however, in many respects, it’s simply the next generation of RU-486,” said Charmaine Yoest, the president of Americans United for Life.
“The American people need to know that Ulipristal works in the same way as RU-486 to kill an embryo before or after implantation. Ulipristal also has potential to be a dangerous drug that will place women’s lives in danger,’ Yoest added.
AUL told the FDA that the abortion drug RU-486 is the parent compound of Ulipristal and it subjects women to drastic health risks, including risks of bacterial infection and hemorrhage.
To date, at least 13 women have died after using RU-486, and possibly dozens, according to the European maker of the mifepristone abortion drug. In addition, more than 1,100 women have experienced medical problems associated with the abortion drug, according to the FDA’s own 2006 figures.
Ulipristal may be subject to similar risks, and unsupervised, over-the-counter access would likely put countless women’s lives in danger, AUL said in its testimony.
While the morning after pill has the ability to cause an abortion when used after implantation, ellaOne, also known as Ulipristal, works as an abortion drug.
That’s because the drug is meant to be taken by women longer after sexual intercourse — not just 24-48 hours but as much as five days later. At that point, if a pregnancy has occurred, the drug will undoubtedly cause an abortion and kill a unique human being immediately after conception.
Bradley Mattes, the director of Life Issues Institute, talked recently about the problems associated with ellaOne. https://www.lifenews.com/nat6374.html
"Unveiled in Europe last year, ellaOne is classified as emergency contraception, but it works much like the abortion pill RU 486 by blocking progesterone from reaching the womb. Both drugs ultimately kill an unborn baby," he explains.
Mattes says abortion advocates can get away with calling the drug a morning after pill that prevents pregnancy or conception because a physicians group pro-abortion activists control has redefined the medical terms.
"As word starts to spread, you’ll likely hear—much like we did with the Plan B Pill—that ellaOne only prevents pregnancies," Mattes adds.
Studies on women showed the drug can abort an existing pregnancy after implantation.
Anna Glasier, of NHS Lothian in Edinburgh, led a study of more than 5,500 women in the UK published online in The Lancet medical journal. It found fewer pregnancies among those women given the ellaOne drug within five days of intercourse. And for women who took the drug between 3-5 days after having sex, only women taking the traditional morning after pill became pregnant.
On June 17, an FDA committee will hold a public hearing on the drug and determine whether to allow it in the United States.
Dr. Donna Harrison, the president of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists agrees with the assessment of ellaOne (Ulipristal) as an abortion drug.
"I think it’s important that the pro-life community recognize exactly what Ulipristal is, and how it works, so they are not fooled," she told LifeNews.com in January.
Harrison is also concerned the drug will be able to be sold over the counter in the same way the Plan B morning after pill is sold without a doctor’s prescription or consultation.
In England, the ellaOne drug is sold via prescription and costs almost three times as much as the morning after pill.
Glasier told the Daily Mail she doesn’t think the ellaOne drug will become as popular because women like the convenience of getting the morning after pill at a pharmacy without the prescription ellaOne requires.
But if that changes in England or becomes available without a prescription in the United States or other countries, those pro-life fears will be confirmed.
Related web sites:
Americans United for Life – https://www.aul.org
Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.
