At least 14 women have now died—including 8 in the United States—after using the abortion drug RU-486. A new study by University of Michigan scientists reveals that improper use of the drug regimen—as pushed by Planned Parenthood—is killing women.
When the FDA approved RU-486, it directed that the drug be taken according to a certain regimen. Specifically, a woman first takes three RU-486 tablets at a doctor’s office or abortion clinic. This initial ingestion blocks progesterone from getting to the baby, and the baby starves to death. Under the regimen approved by the FDA, the woman is to return 36 to 48 hours later to take a second drug, misoprostol (a prostaglandin), which causes the woman to expel the baby. The woman is supposed to return for a third visit three weeks later for an exam to confirm that the baby has been completely expelled, and to monitor bleeding.
However, abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, routinely fail to follow this specific regimen. Instead of instructing women to take the second dose (misoprostol) orally, they are instructing women to take it vaginally. And instead of requiring women to take the second dose in a doctor’s office or clinic, they are releasing women to take the drug on their own, at home, without any medical support. Thus, there is no follow-up care for the woman after the initial visit.
When four women died in one week after a California Planned Parenthood facility provided RU-486 to the women, the scientists began investigating the cause of those deaths. They found that vaginal use of misoprostol allows bacteria to cause fatal infections.
That specific Planned Parenthood facility has begun instructing women to take the second dose orally, but it still has not revised its policy that allows women to take the second dose at home.
This new study adds to the evidence demonstrating that Planned Parenthood is killing the very women it claims to protect.
