New abortion push will put women at risk, Melbourne church official claims.
By Anthony Barich
Women in rural areas are at risk now that the Therapeutic Goods Administration has granted leading abortion provider Marie Stopes International permission to distribute the abortifacient RU486, the head of the Melbourne archdiocesan Life, Marriage and Family Office said.
Marcia Riordan, executive director of the office, said there is evidence that between five to eight per cent of women who use RU486 can subsequently experience severe haemorrhaging, meaning rural women are in particular danger.
“If they’re a long way from doctors and hospitals I certainly would be concerned about them,” she said. “It’s not an easy thing for anyone to use.”
While at least 13 women have died after using RU486, which is to be used only at less than nine weeks gestation, the Therapeutic Goods Administration did not respond to questions from The Record about the drug’s danger.
Ms Riordan is also concerned that the website of Marie Stopes, which has 10 community-based clinics in WA, Victoria, NSW, Queensland and the ACT, mentions nothing of counselling women about other options apart from abortion.
She also warned that the emotional and psychological effects relating to a sense of guilt common with post-abortive women would be amplified for those who use RU486, as they administer it themselves.
In 2006 the Federal Government passed legislation to remove the federal health minister’s power to regulate the approval of the French abortion drug RU486 when anti-abortion Catholic Tony Abbott was health minister.
Until that time, use of the drug had been restricted within Australia.
Since the TGA was given control of authorising the importation of the abortifacient, a few doctors and hospitals around Australia have administered it on a restricted basis.
In the absence of RU486 prior to the TGA’s decision last month, Marie Stopes International has been offering women the option of medical abortion using a methotrexate-misoprostol regimen at its centres in Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and NSW.
RU486 stops the development of the unborn child by blocking the hormone progesterone needed to continue the pregnancy. Women who take the drug also need to then take Misoprostol, which expels the embryo from the uterus, which causes uterine bleeding.