Catholic Fire

The RU-486 abortion pill was hailed as a "safe" way to end a pregnancy. But for hundreds of American women, an abortion by this method has meant emergency room visits for blood transfusions, emergency surgery, or treatment for serious, sometimes lethal infections… . Cardinal William H. Keeler

Though recent reports indicate a drop in the abortion rate, the use of the abortion pill RU-486 is on the rise, the Washington Post reports. The drug mifepristone, RU-486, has been in the American market since 2000. RU-486-induced abortions have been rising by 22 percent a year and now account for 14 percent of the total . They account for one in five abortions performed by the ninth week of pregnancy. The pill has helped slow the decline in abortion providers, as more physicians who previously did not perform the procedure discreetly start to prescribe the pill. My Comments: Why are "doctors" prescribing this "death pill" to women? RU-486 can be fatal for the woman: 10 times more so than in the case of surgical abortion. About seven years ago, when RU-486 first came out, I was handing out information flyers to women outside a "Christian" hospital, explaining the dangers of this drug and many were amazed. They had no idea that such a drug existed and we...

(Blogger Note: If you're reading this for a second time and wondering what the update is, I have changed Dr. Frank Pavone to Fr. Frank Pavone, but then you probably already knew he was not a Dr.) An ancient saying tells us, "Where there's life, there's hope." The truth of that statement was demonstrated powerfully by an experience that two of our medical advisors at Priests for Life recently related to us. Dr. Matthew Harrison had a visit from a 20-year old woman named Ashley. She was seven weeks pregnant, but she feared for the life of her baby - not because there was anything wrong with the pregnancy, but because, two days earlier, she had taken RU-486 at an abortion mill. Now, she had changed her mind about having the abortion and wanted to see if the baby could be saved! The RU-486 process requires taking the drug itself (called mifiprex) at the abortion mill, and then taking a second drug (called cytotec or misoprostol) three days later on one's own. Ashl...