OPINION:
In a recent Washington Times article, Susan B. Anthony Pro Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser says the abortion pill puts women and girls’ lives and health at risk. She says Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin Makary is doing nothing on the study and should be fired.
But according to Health and Human Services Press Secretary Emily Hilliard, “Assertions that the FDA is slow walking this review for political purposes are baseless” (“‘Makary must go’: Fed-up pro-lifers want FDA chief fired for lack of action on abortion pill,” Web, Dec. 9).
Ms. Dannenfelser is correct that the pill risks women’s lives and health. A study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center concluded that the abortion pill is much more dangerous than advertised. The study was published seven months ago, plenty of time for the FDA to have something to report, particularly given the risks to women using the pill.
The study examined insurance claims of 865,727 women who took the pill. This sample size is 28 times larger and thus more accurate than previous FDA clinical trials. The study found that 11% of women had serious reactions; the rate of serious complications is 22 times higher than listed on the drug’s label; 40,906 of women went to the emergency room; 24,563 women had incomplete abortions and had to have surgical abortions; 3,062 took the pill with undiagnosed ectopic pregnancies, a potentially fatal condition; and 824 developed sepsis, another potentially fatal condition.
Given the findings of the EPPC study, it is certainly reasonable to expect some statement from the FDA by now protecting women — especially since the abortion industry is promoting the pill every way it can. It’s much more profitable, after all, than surgical abortions, and 60% of all abortions start with the pill.
If Mr. Makary is slow walking validating the EPPC study, he certainly deserves to be fired. Women deserve much better!
CAROLYN NAUGHTON
Silver Spring, Maryland
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