Daily Herald letter

The following is a letter published on September 15, 2000 in the Daily Herald located in Arlington Heights, IL. The letter was edited by the newspaper. (Please note that the Daily Herald omitted the fact that the two questions appearing in the second and third paragraphs were addressed to Steve Trombley, local president of Planned Parenthood.)

Daily Herald Fence Post 9/15/00 

by Karen Malec

RU-486 Risks 

Planned Parenthood's local president, Steve Trombley, argues that RU-486, an abortifacient, has not received FDA approval because of "anti-choice politics."

Let me pose these questions. If your physician recommended an overwhelmingly elective surgical procedure to you, would you want to be informed if 27 out of 34 worldwide studies published since 1957 had implicated the procedure with cancer? 

If your physician permitted you to make a fully informed health-care choice, would you still choose to have that procedure performed on you?

It isn't surprising that Mr. Trombley neglected to inform us that when Rep. Tom Coburn, M.D., introduced his amendment prohibiting the FDA from researching or approving drugs like RU-486, a debate about the abortion-breast cancer link erupted on the floor of the U.S. House.

During the debate, Rep. Chris Smith called on the "abortion establishment" to "stop the cover-up" of the abortion-breast cancer link and begin informing women about their risks.

Dr. Joel Brind, whose 1996 review of the worldwide studies caused the United Kingdom's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to warn its abortion practitioners that the abortion-breast cancer link "could not be disregarded," has warned the FDA that a substantial increase in the number of breast cancer cases would result if RU-486 is approved.

There are other perilous side effects. Several women have required blood transfusions, one of whom reported that, "It was like a faucet turned on. There was a steady stream of blood."

Women who take RU-486 require analgesics to relieve three days of pain, antibiotics to prevent infection, a prostaglandin to induce contractions and premedication.

For this reason, RU-486 has been called a "drug cocktail." There also have been two reported heart attacks and one confirmed death.

Karen Malec
President
Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer