Apparently, the folks at Danco Laboratories can. Danco, the U.S. distributor of RU-486 (Mifeprex) seems quite willing to overlook another death--or three (in the U.S.) or seven (including Canada, the U.K. and Sweden--so long as it can keep selling the "abortion pill" that makes pregnancy disappear.
And if the pregnant mothers disappear, too, well, that's just "a rare complication."
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is acting no better. On Nov. 15, the FDA decided not to suspend distribution of RU-486, even after the seventh reported death in recent years associated with RU-486, even after 676 "adverse event" reports, including 17 ectopic pregnancies, 72 cases where blood transfusions were needed, and seven serious infections.
Instead, the FDA was content to beef up the warning labels and belatedly include emergency room directors in their mass mailing because lots of teens and young women who take RU-486 end in ERs.
Responsible medical associations and the pro-life community have warned the FDA for nearly a decade about the dangers inherent in the RU-486/misprostol combination. There are three main ways that RU-486 is potentially lethal to women: bleeding to death, infection, and ruptured ectopic pregnancy. Why? Because the pills always cause bleeding and pain, which can mask potentially fatal problems.
Below are some who experienced risks (Names purposely ommitted.):
--In June, 2003, a Swedish teen bled to death. She didn't go to the hospital because she was told to expect to bleed for two weeks.
--An 18-year old teen of Livermore, California, died in 2003 from an infection following an RU-486 abortion.
--A Canadian woman died in 2001 from infection--her death suspended the Canadian RU-486 drug trials, and
--a woman of Hamilton County, Tennessee, died in 2001 from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy after undergoing an RU-486 abortion.
If the FDA cannot be relied upon to protect young women from this dangerous and unnecessary drug, then Congress should step in and do so.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(Susan Wills is associate director for education in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities.)__________________________________________________________________
The drug company is not the only one complicit in this matter. The FDA approved the drug, doctors prescribed it and women who did not want to be encumbered with an 'unplanned' pregnancy, eagerly took it. All are at fault!
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the FDA will get back to you when they're done extorting Merck over Vioxx. Or not.
Bad Kharma or what goes around comes around.
Funny how this outfit isn't interested in publishing the much longer list of deaths from pregnancy complications in women who decided to try to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term.
It's kinda funny how pro-choice advocates state that we must keep abortion safe and legal so that women are not forced into back alleys, etc, blah blah blah, yet this pill is not exactly safe though it is currently legal......
Sounds like Vioxx is much safer.
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"then Congress should step in and do so"
You know that won't happen. It won't happen until the deaths of women reach a high number.
The pro-lifers warned of these dangers even before the pill was put on the market....