Pro-Life Groups Concerned About Potential FDA Approval of Ella Abortion Drug
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 13, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Leaders of four pro-life groups participated in a conference call this afternoon to discuss the potential decision by the FDA to approve the abortion drug ella. They are concerned the decision will be billed as okaying a morning after pill even though the drug operates as an abortion agent.
In June, the FDA Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs gave its approval to the early abortion drug on two 11-0 votes.
Billed as a better morning after pill, because it can be used longer after sexual intercourse than the traditional Plan B drug, the drug would almost always cause an abortion because it would begin working days after conception, which confers into existence a new, unique human being.
Supporters of the drug have gotten around that fact by redefining the beginning of pregnancy as implantation rather than conception, or fertilization.
Wendy Wright, the president of Concerned Women for America led off the conference call saying that the FDA could be in a position to mislead American women.
"If the FDA approve the ella abortion drug without saying it is an abortion drug, it would be a disservice to women," she said.
She pointed out how the FDA could be following its decision during the latter part of the Clinton administration to approve the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug — which has killed at least 13 women, and potentially dozens more, and injured more than 1,100 in the United States alone according to FDA reports.
"Though called an ’emergency contraceptive,’ the drug operates the same way as the abortion drug RU-486, which has caused numerous deaths and over 1,000 reported adverse events," she said.
Wright said women could become victims again, especially because the ella abortion drug has not undergone rigorous testing and medical trials.
"Adequate trials have not been done with this new drug," she said, noting that women have not been tested with the drug after use five days from intercourse even though the plan is to get women to use the drug after that time period.
She noted abortion businesses are already violating the three-day time limit the FDA suggests with the morning after pill and various limits associated with the RU 486 abortion drug and she is concerned more abuses are forthcoming.
"What kind of an effect does ella have on babies who survive the drug?" Wright asked.
She said she is concerned about a high rate of potential birth defects for unborn children who are born after failure of the ella pill, known as EllaOne in Europe. Wright pointed out that clinics trials concerning potential birth defects were not conducted before the FDA advisory committee issued its recommendation and have not been done since then.
"Incredibly, despite evidence that ella may cause birth defects in babies that survive, members of an FDA Advisory Committee recommended against long-term studies to determine if it does, preferring that women be kept in the dark," Wright said.
Although the manufacturer of the drug claims it is safe for women, "The drug sponsor should prove it," she said.
"Women deserve better than this. If the FDA deliberately misleads women by mislabeling the drug as a contraceptive, and does not send the drug back for adequate trials to determine the possible serious complications to women and their babies, it will be putting abortion politics above women’s health," Wright concluded.
"The FDA should not have lower standards for reproductive drugs for women than it would for any other drug," she said.
Kristan Hawkins, the director of Students for Life of America; Jeanne Monahan, Director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council; and David Bereit, the director of 40 Days for Life, also participated in the call.
Related web sites:
Ella Causes Abortions – https://www.ellacausesabortions.com
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