FDA rules abortion pill safe for market

Pro-life advocates expressed disappointment with the Food and Drug Administration’s ruling on Nov. 16 that the abortion pill RU-486 is safe enough to remain on the market.

The FDA approved the drug in 2000 to abort unborn children within the first 49 days of pregnancy. The agency began re-examining the drug’s safety earlier this year after the deaths of three women in the U.S. were attributed to the drug’s use.

Those three deaths were among 676 adverse events reported through Nov. 5 by women who used the abortion pill. Seventy-two women bled so heavily after using the abortion pill that they required blood transfusions. Seven women suffered serious bacterial infections, including sepsis.

Holly Patterson had just turned 18 when she obtained the abortion pill from a Planned Parenthood clinic in San Francisco last year. Holly died on Sept. 17, 2003, of septic shock caused by inflammation of the uterus, a complication of the abortion pill. — E.P. News