Chemical Abortion: A Review

Contact Your Elected Officials
The Heritage Foundation Header

 SUMMARY

In September 2000, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved the use of mifepristoneโ€”an abortion pillโ€”commonly known as RU-486 or its brand name, Mifeprex. Its entrance on the U.S. market was mired in controversy for reasons including its approval process, inadequate oversight of adverse effects as a result of its use, and the simple fact that it is an abortifacient. The drug remains no less contentious 20 years later. The annual percentage of chemical abortions grows larger every year. Pro-abortion activists, as well as state and federal lawmakers, are agitating to remove safety standards guiding the drugโ€™s usageโ€”or even make it available over the counter. U.S. policymakers must address the alarming impact of this dangerous drug.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • In addition to ending the life of an unborn child, chemical abortion poses serious health risks to women.
  • The use of chemical abortion in the United States has increased 120 percent in the past decade.
  • Policymakers should strengthenโ€”not weakenโ€”the regulation of dangerous abortion pills.

In September 2003, 18-year-old Holly Patterson, who was seven weeks pregnant, walked into a Planned Parenthood clinic in California and began the chemical abortion pill regimen. One week later, she died in a local hospital after going into septic shock from a bacterial infection, Clostridium sordelli. Her father, Monty Patterson, has spent the years since her death highlighting the dangers of the abortion pill. โ€œIโ€™m not pro-life or pro-choice,โ€ he said in one interview, โ€œIโ€™m pro-Holly.โ€ He described the look of fear in her eyes at the hospital shortly before she died. โ€œI donโ€™t want anyone else to go through that.โ€1

Julian Guthrie, โ€œMonty Patterson Learns About RU-486 the Hard Way,โ€ SFGate, December 5, 2011, https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Moโ€‹nty-Patterson-learns-about-RU-486-the-hard-way-2345757.php (accessed March 3, 2021).

Testifying before Congress, Monty Patterson stated:

There are no quick fixes or magical pills to make an unplanned pregnancy go away. My family, friends, and community were deeply saddened and are forever marred by Hollyโ€™s preventable and tragic death. It is my vibrant memory of Holly and her premature death that have inspired me to make the public aware of the serious and lethal effects of the [abortion pill] regimenโ€ฆ. It is a natural instinct to protect our loved ones and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.โ€2

โ€œRU-486: Demonstrating a Low Standard for Womenโ€™s Health?โ€ hearing before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, May 17, 2006, https://www.congress.gov/109/chrg/CHRG-109hhrg313โ€‹97/CHRG-109hhrg31397.pdf (accessed March 3, 2021).

While Holly was the first person in the United States known to have died in this manner, she would not be the last.

The Chemical Abortion Process

In the chemical abortion process a woman typically takes two pills: mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone blocks the uterus from receiving a critical hormone, progesterone, which is required to sustain a pregnancy. As a result of the progesterone inhibitor, the lining of the uterus deteriorates and cannot transfer adequate nutrients to the developing unborn child, causing its death. Twenty-four to 48 hours after taking mifepristone, a woman takes the second part of the abortion pill regimen, misoprostol, which causes uterine contractions to complete the abortion process and empty the uterus. Misoprostolโ€™s use in the abortion pill regimen is โ€œoff label,โ€ that is, it was not created to be used in the abortion process.

Surgical abortion, in contrast, is a procedure thatโ€”in the first or second trimesterโ€”involves a health care provider using instruments such as clamps, cutterete blades, or suction catheters to extract an unborn child from the womb. For a very late-term abortion, a lethal injection kills the child in utero, and the child is delivered stillborn.3

โ€œAbortion Procedures: What You Need to Know,โ€ Abortion Procedures, https://www.abortionprocedures.com/ (accessed March 16, 2021).

According to current Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines, mifepristone may be taken up to 70 days (10 weeks) into pregnancy, although practitioners often fail to abide by the gestational limitation.4

See, e.g., Planned Parenthood Cincinnati Region v. Taft, 459 F. Supp. 2d 626 (S.D. Oh. 2006), and Planned Parenthood, โ€œThe Abortion Pill,โ€ https://โ€‹www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/abortion/the-abortion-pill (accessed March 12, 2021). Planned Parenthood freely advertises chemical abortion up to 77 days from the first day of the last menstrual period. Common side effects of mifepristone include fever, nausea, vomiting, chills, and dizziness, along with cramping and bleeding more pronounced than a heavy menstrual period. Mifepristone is associated with other, more serious, adverse effects, including hemorrhaging, immune system inhibition, and septic shock.

Between 2000 and 2006, the FDA was aware of six deaths associated with mifepristone, as well as โ€œnine life-threatening incidents, 232 hospitalizations, 116 blood transfusions, and 88 cases of infection.โ€5

U.S. House of Representatives, The FDA and RU-486: Lowering the Standard for Womenโ€™s Health, Government Reform Committee, October 2006, p. 25, https://aaplog.wildapricot.org/resources/Souder%20Comm.%20Rprt_RU-486_October%202006_converted%5b1%5d%20(1).pdf (accessed March 3, 2021). As of 2018, the FDA is aware of 24 deaths associated with mifepristone and more than 4,000 adverse events.6

Mifepristone, U.S. Post-Marketing Adverse Events Summary through 12/31/2018, United States Food and Drug Administration, https://www.fda.govโ€‹/media/112118/download (accessed March 19, 2021). Unfortunately, these reports likely do not represent the full scope of unfavorable outcomes as a result of weaknesses in the FDAโ€™s Adverse Events Reporting System (FAERS), which are discussed later in this Backgrounder. As of December 2018, an estimated 3.7 million women had used mifepristone in the United States.7

Ibid.

In the past decade, the chemical abortion rate has increased an astounding 120 percent according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to its 2018 abortion surveillance report, 40 percent of abortions reported were chemical in nature (38.6 percent occurred prior to nine weeks, and 1.4 percent occurred after nine weeks).8

Katherine Kortsmit et al., โ€œAbortion Surveillance: United States, 2018,โ€ Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: Surveillance Summaries, Vol. 69, No. 7 (November 27, 2020), https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/ss/ss6907a1.htm (accessed March 3, 2021). The Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-focused research organization, reports that chemical abortions comprised 6 percent of U.S. abortions after mifepristoneโ€™s approval in 2000 and comprised 31 percent of abortions in 2014.9

Megan K. Donovan, โ€œSelf-Managed Medication Abortion: Expanding the Available Options for U.S. Abortion Care,โ€ Guttmacher Policy Review, Vol. 21 (October 17, 2018), https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2018/10/self-managed-medication-abortion-expanding-available-options-us-abortion-care (accessed March 3, 2021).

Unfortunately, any discussion of U.S. abortion data requires a caveat. Reporting by the states to the CDC is not mandatory; not all states submit data, and the process is not streamlined. The Guttmacher Institute directly surveys abortion providers and is able to glean information from providers in states that are not represented in the CDCโ€™s report, but, again, reporting is not mandatory. Ultimately, U.S. abortion reporting standards are not timely and streamlined, which is detrimental to public policy discussions about the issue.10

Chuck Donovan and Rebecca Gonzales, โ€œAbortion Reporting: Toward a Better National Standard,โ€ The Charlotte Lozier Institute America Reports Series, Issue 12 (August 2016), https://s27589.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Abortion-Reporting-Toward-a-Better-National-Standard-FINALโ€‹.pdf (accessed March 3, 2021).

Nonetheless, the data that are available conclusively demonstrate that chemical abortions make up a rapidly increasing share of abortions in the U.S.

By Melanie Israel

Read Full Article on Heritage.org

Chemical Abortion: A Review PDF

chemical-abortion-a-review-3-26-21-BG3603

Download Chemical Abortion: A Review

The Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundationhttps://www.heritage.org/
The Heritage Foundation formulates and promotes public policies based on free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional values, and strong national defense.

How The Big Beautiful Bill Will Keep Louisiana’s Energy Industry Strong

Renewable or not, our federal govt should not be rigging the deck against any energy sources, especially nuclear power that is both clean and consistent.

On Declaring War, Congress De Facto Amended the Constitution

Congress has de facto amended the Constitution by 55 years of refusing to debate matters of war and peace.

AOC โ€“ Acting On Cue

It is easy to dislike Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), also known as Sandy Cortez, because she is fraudulent and not to smart.

LGBTQโ„ข Propaganda Roundup: Tampon Tim Walz Fails the Test

LGBTQโ„ข Propaganda Roundup: Nip/tucking the latest social engineering fisted...

AI is Now an Existential Threat

We now see evidence that artificial intelligence is an existential threat to our future. It is coming to take American jobs!

These Energy Tax Credits Are on Chopping Block in GOP Megabill

A revised Senate Republican megabill to implement Trumpโ€™s agenda hastens terminations of tax credits for renewable energy development, but offers new tax inducement for coal production.

DOJ Sues LA Over Sanctuary City Policies: 4 Things to Know

DOJ filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles over what it said are โ€œsanctuary cityโ€ policies that shield illegal immigrants from deportation efforts.

Rep. Dusty Johnson Will Run for Governor of South Dakota

U.S. Rep. Dustin Michael โ€œDustyโ€ Johnson has announced that he will run for governor of South Dakota during the general election to that office in 2026.

Moderna to Ask for Clearance for Combination COVID-Influenza Vaccine

Moderna is going to ask regulators to approve its combination vaccine against COVID-19 and influenza, the company said on June 30.

Federal Reserve โ€˜Should Be Ashamedโ€™ for Not Lowering Interest Rates, Trump Says

President Donald Trump said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues โ€œshould be ashamedโ€ for not lowering interest rates.

Trump Signs Executive Order to Lift Sanctions on Syria

President Trump signed an EO on June 30 to lift most sanctions on Syria, giving the Middle-Eastern country an opportunity to develop economically.

Canada-US Trade Talks Will End Until โ€˜Certain Taxesโ€™ Are Dropped, Trump Stresses

Trade discussions between Canada and the United States will end โ€œuntil such time as they drop certain taxes,โ€ U.S. President Trump said in an interview.

Trump Says US to Send Tariff Letters to Trade Partners Before July 9 Deadline

President Donald Trump said Sunday he will soon send letters to trading partners detailing the tariffs to be imposed on their exports to the United States.
spot_img

Related Articles