Politics
Monday July 11, 2005
Abortion Pill RU-486 on Essential Drug List of World Health Organization
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
LONDON, July 11, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The British Medical Journal reported Saturday that the World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the RU-486 chemical abortifacient as an “essential” medicine for inclusion in a list of medicines required to be available to physicians working in developing countries.
Arguing that the combination of mifepristone followed later by misoprostol is a safe alternative to surgical abortion in countries where abortion is often illegal, the WHO authorized inclusion of the drug as essential to combat what it terms back-alley “unsafe abortions.”
WHO director of medicines policy and standards and secretary of its essential medicines committee Hans Hogerzeil criticized the US, opposition to the inclusion of RU-486 as an “essential” medicine. The US did achieve one goal – the inclusion of a phrase in the essential drug list that reads, “Where permitted under national law and where culturally acceptable.”
The UK’s Society for the Protection of Unborn Children said it “hoped enough cultures rejected the drugs … as they would bring innocent life to an end,” as reported by the BMJ.
After news of the RU-486 inclusion by WHO, Planned Parenthood wrote to congratulate its members, saying, “More than 5,000 FreeChoiceSavesLives.org activists like you took action to protect these women by emailing Dr. Lee Jong-Wook at the World Health Organization (WHO).” Planned Parenthood congratulated its members for putting pressure on Jong-Wook to include RU-486. “Your emails urging him not to cave in to the inappropriate, ideologically-driven pressure it was receiving from the Bush administration's Department of Health and Human Services seem to have given the WHO the encouragement it needed to stop dragging its feet.”
Concerned Women for America (CWA) posted on its Web site in January public documents revealing approximately 600 serious complications suffered by women who used the abortion drug RU-486 in the US.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Public Documents Reveal Numerous RU-486 Complications
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jan/05012403.html
Media Silent On Ru-486's Nazi Death Camp Pedigree
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/oct/001004a.html
TV
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- "Manhattan Declaration" Embodies U.S. Christian Pushback against Abortion, Same-Sex "Marriage"
- Hoffman Loses Final Tally of NY-23 Race; Alleges ACORN Tampering and Fraud
- Abortion Activist Judge Hamilton Confirmed with Help of Ten Republican Senators
- CDC Reverses Gardasil Vaccine Requirement for Immigrants
- Germany Faces Economic Downturn with Plummeting Birth Rate and Aging Population
- CCHD in Archdiocese of Chicago Says it is Working to Fix Problems
- Rejection of Washington DC Marriage Referendum Challenged With Legal Suit
- Obama-Supporting Homosexual Activist to Out Sexually Involved Priests Unless they Support Gay 'Marriage
- Austrian Catholic Bishops Issue Bland Response to Govt's Homosexual Partnership Bill
- Interim Report on Catholic Sex-Abuse Says "Homosexual Identity" Not a Predictor of Sex Abuse
- Commentary on Nov 20 NewsBytes
- LSN NewsBytes - US Health Care Reform
- LSN NewsBytes - Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD)
- LSN NewsBytes - Life Issues, Religion, Swine Flu, US Politics, Sarah Palin, Miscellaneous
- LSN NewsBytes - Climate Change/Global Warming
- 59 Bishops Contributed Financially to Maine Bishop's Effort to Oppose Maine Same-Sex "Marriage" Law
- Pro-Abortion Lawmakers Shower Praise on Senate Bill's Phony Abortion Compromise
Most Read this Week
- Largest U.S. Homosexual Publisher Shuts Down, Closing Major Gay Newspapers
- EWTN's Arroyo Hosts Reform CCHD Reps Who Reveal Shocking Evidence Against USCCB Anti-Poverty Arm
- Italian Mayors Order Crufixes Put in Classrooms in Revolt against European Court Ruling
- Nat'l Organization for Marriage Responds to Miss California "Sex Tape" Scandal
- Obama Evades Questioning on Stupak Amendment in FOX Interview
- "Manhattan Declaration" Embodies U.S. Christian Pushback against Abortion, Same-Sex "Marriage"
- French Judge Finds Hospital Guilty of "Unreasonable Obstinacy" in Saving Newborn's Life
- EU Leaders to Choose President today in Secret "Soviet Style" Meetings
- Hoffman "Unconcedes" Battle for NY-23: Recount Provides Hope for "Miracle" Victory
- CCHD Responds to Reform Movement
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.