Pro-Family Groups Respond to RU-486 Study

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Pro-Family Groups Respond to RU-486 Study

Special Report - August 24, 2007
A new study published in the August 16 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine gives an inaccurate picture of the safety of the abortion drug RU-486, according to several pro-family organizations. The study, Medical Abortion and the Risk of Subsequent Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes, used national registries in Denmark to monitor the success of subsequent pregnancies among women who had undergone both medical and surgical abortions. In contrast to a surgical abortion, where the life of the unborn child is ended through an invasive procedure, women who obtain a medical abortion take RU-486, a combination of two drugs (mifepristone and misoprostol) that are designed to end pregnancies up to 49 days after the last menstrual cycle. The procedure essentially starves the developing baby to death by preventing the hormone progesterone from offering nourishment and then induces uterine contractions that are intended to expel the unborn child from the woman’s body. The Denmark study “found no evidence that a previous medical abortion, as compared with a previous surgical abortion, increases the risk of spontaneous abortion, ectopic pregnancy, preterm birth, or low birth weight.”

Numerous media outlets have published headlines claiming that the study found the abortion pill safe, even though the study only monitored women who had undergone either a medical or surgical abortion, not women who had never had an abortion. “The new study is problematic because it did not examine other, short-term risks, and it did not compare RU-486 and surgical abortion patients to women with no abortion history,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. “Thus, this study says nothing about future pregnancy outcomes for RU-486 patients versus women who never have abortions—a true measure of longer-term RU-486 safety.” Cheryl Sullenger, senior policy advisor for Operation Rescue, said that the authors of the study neglected to compare non-abortive women with post-abortive women because they did not want to reach the conclusion that abortion hurts women. “Women who have had abortions have greater risks of miscarriage and infertility than women who have not had abortions,” Sullenger said.

At least seven confirmed deaths are attributable to RU-486. On March 17, 2006, the Food and Drug Administration issued a public health advisory after the deaths of two more women were reported. The FDA emphasized the importance of physicians and patients being fully aware of the specific risks associated with the drug. Legislation has been introduced in Congress to withdraw RU-486 from the market. On January 4, U.S. Representative Roscoe Bartlett (R–MD) introduced H.R. 63—RU-486 Suspension and Review Act of 2007, but the bill has not been taken up for consideration.