The Death Pill

Stuff you'll never see in the promotional materials for RU-486.

...when taken alone, RU-486 causes a complete abortion only about 60 percent of the time, leaving a patient vulnerable to serious infection and hemorrhaging. For this reason, a second drug (Cytotec in the U.S.) must be taken about 48 hours after RU-486 to cause uterine contractions, which help expel the embryo. (...)

Under the protocol approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Cytotec is supposed to be given orally and under medical supervision. But some Planned Parenthood clinics and abortionists, who apparently can't be bothered with multiple visits and monitoring women onsite, tell patients like Holly to administer the drug vaginally, at home, with no medical supervision. (...)

A major World Health Organization (WHO) study documented the infection risk associated with RU-486 abortions: 30 percent of women who had incomplete RU-486 abortions developed pelvic/genital-tract infections. The reason for this high infection rate: One side effect of the RU-486 drug combination is immune-system suppression. For this reason, the WHO study calls for women to receive antibiotics for six weeks following an RU-486 abortion.

In April 2002, Danco sent an FDA-approved "dear doctor" letter warning of safety issues associated with prescribing RU-486, i.e., undetected ectopic pregnancies and bacterial infections which had resulted in patient deaths, and informing them of a 21-year-old woman who died of a heart attack three days after taking RU-486.