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03/17/2006

CWA: RU-486 Claims Two More Women’s Lives
Why does FDA pull other drugs with fewer risks yet backs abortion drug that kills healthy women?

WASHINGTON, March 17 /Christian Newswire/ -- Concerned Women for America (CWA) expressed outrage that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still refuses to pull the abortion pill RU-486 from the market even after announcing today that two more women who took the drug have died.

"The FDA has pulled other drugs that have caused fewer deaths and less severe complications than RU- 486. Why the double-standard for an abortion drug that is now linked to the deaths of seven healthy women and over 800 other reported complications?" stated Wendy Wright, president of CWA.

The FDA admits that only 10 percent of complications suffered by patients from drugs get reported. Over 800 complications due to RU-486 have been reported to the FDA.

"Two more families are grieving because the FDA refuses to pull this dangerous drug from the market," said Wright. "By giving its approval, FDA participates in the deception that RU-486 is ‘safe.’ How many women must die before the FDA will act? Are their lives less important than making abortion convenient?"

Drugs with fewer reported complications that the FDA has pulled include:

NeutroSpec, an imaging agent used to diagnose internal infections, was pulled from the market after being linked to two deaths, 20 severe reactions, and 46 other "less" severe reactions.

Tysabri, a drug to treat multiple sclerosis, was pulled from the market on Feb. 28, 2005, after reports that three patients taking it had developed PML, a rare brain disease. Studies published in New England Journal of Medicine in early March reported no additional cases of PML.

Lotronex, the only drug in its class to treat irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which afflicts approximately 40 million Americans was pulled. About 300,000 people had taken it. About 70 patients had developed severe problems, with five deaths including three possibly linked to the drug.

Bextra was pulled even though an FDA advisory committee voted a few months before that Bextra should remain on the market.

"The FDA has acted cautiously with these other drugs," stated Miss Wright. "Why is that same caution not exercised with a drug that only women use, and it’s only purpose is to abort a baby?"

Concerned Women for America (CWA) is the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization.