Focus on the Family Applauds Efforts to Protect U.S. Women

Focus on the Family
Wednesday, 21 August 2002

Pro-Family Group Supports Citizen Petition to the FDA Regarding RU-486

It is now up to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to decide whether or not it will seriously consider the health risks that Mifeprex/RU-486 poses to women in the U.S. Focus on the Family supports the efforts of three pro-life organizations that filed a Citizen Petition with the federal agency today. The petition exposes deficiencies in the approval process as well as the way that Mifeprex has been dangerously administered to American women. Based on these safety concerns, the groups are asking the FDA to pull the abortion pill from the U.S. market.
The petition, filed by the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Christian Medical Association and Concerned Women for America, claims that the FDA rushed Mifeprex through the approval process and based the drug's approval on faulty research.

Carrie Gordon Earll, Bioethics Analyst for Focus on the Family, responded, "These groups have thoroughly researched the FDA's process and raised serious questions about the risks involved with taking Mifeprex. Unfortunately, it appears that this drug was pushed through the system on a fast track due to political considerations. No policy interest should ever take precedence over the safety of America's women."

According to a recent report from the FDA, Mifeprex, in conjunction with a second drug, Misoprostol, is linked to two abortion-related deaths between June 1998 and November 2001. The FDA data also reported that another 22 women who required hospitalization or another "intervention to prevent permanent impairment or damage" after taking Mifeprex during the same time period.

In early 2001, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said he intended to explore the safety of Mifeprex. Around the same time, the White House said FDA approval of the drug would be reviewed. Earll said, "That was more than a year ago. This petition gives the Bush Administration ample evidence and opportunity to begin its own investigation. To do any less would raise questions about the administration's sincerity."

More information on the petition can be found online at: www.ru486.cwfa.org.

For more information, or to contact Focus on the Family, see their website at: www.family.org