[Pflienews] PharmFacts E-News Update: Misoprostol continues to be an abortifacient 24 yrs later

Mon Feb 4 12:20:43 MST 2008

*PharmFacts E-News Update -- 4 Feb 2008 AD #2

*
 NB: PFLI members and supporters will recall PFLI was one of the lone 
voices protesting approval of Cytotec (misoprostol)
to the FDA back in 1984-5!  It has minimal true therapeutic utility due 
to side effects, and the lion's share of its market has been use as a 
primary or secondary abortifacient. Now that it is a multi source 
generic, its cost has been made even more attractive to use as chemical 
abortifacient. Rather than call this "hidden", we may use the more 
accurate "ignored" crisis as a descriptor for this chemical when used to 
destroy a human life. Some scientific technical corrective points are 
made below with brackets inserted by PFLI.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

    * * 	
    *4 February 2008     Vol. 10 / No. 5 <http://www.pop.org/>*

    Misoprostol and the Hidden Pro-Life Crisis

    by Colin Mason

    The pro-abortion movement is moving stealthily to open another front
    in the abortion wars. Its name is misoprostol.

    Misoprostol is most well-known as the active ingredient in Cytotec,
    a prescription drug whose FDA-approved usage is to [prevent] gastric
    ulcers. Misoprostol has proven very effective in this regard, and it
    has also been used to treat women who are hemorrhaging from a
    spontaneous miscarriage, or following childbirth. This is the good news.

    The bad news is that it is just as "effective" at causing an abortion.

    Pro-abortion groups have been swift to take advantage of this new
    anti-life weapon. Misoprostol, when used in conjunction with the
    steroid mifepristone, will cause a pregnant woman to miscarry 90
    percent of the time. This is, of course, Mifepristone [aka known by
    the experimental name RU-486].

    But Misoprostol alone is only slightly less deadly. What it amounts
    to is a one-pill, one-day, "homemade" abortion [although most
    chemical abortion protocols call for 600-800mg of misoprostol, i.e.
    3-4 tablets]. A woman who takes the drug generally begins
    hemorrhaging, after which she need merely go to a local medical
    clinic and claim that she is miscarrying.

     From the point of view of the doctor who examines her, the woman is
    spontaneously miscarrying. There is no evidence that she has aborted
    herself. Nor is the doctor aware that, by removing the now-dead
    baby, he is completing an elective abortion.

    MVA device

    Misoprostol can be an even more effective abortifacient than the MVA
    device.

    The FDA strictly warns against the usage of misoprostol for any
    obstetric use, even to slow hemorrhaging, but this has not stopped
    doctors domestically or abroad from doing so. "Misoprostol is
    sometimes used to decrease blood loss after delivery of a baby," the
    FDA clearly states on its web site. "These uses are not approved by
    the FDA. No company has sent the FDA scientific proof that
    misoprostol is safe and effective for these uses."

    The drug has been seized upon by abortion-pushing NGO's, who see
    misoprostol as their ultimate "final solution." Indeed, this small
    pill requires no medical training to use, it is easily stored at
    ambient temperatures and it is available over-the-counter in many
    developing countries.

    Women on Waves, the infamous Dutch abortion group, calls the
    misoprostol/mifepristone cocktail "the best and safest way a woman
    can do an abortion herself until the 9th week of pregnancy," going
    on to offer detailed instructions on how to do so. Gynuity Health
    Projects, a notoriously pro-abortion NGO, has an entire project
    dedicated to introducing abortion in Latin American countries, in
    which misoprostol plays an integral part.

    Even more flagrant is the web site www.misoprostolabortion.com
    <http://www.misoprostolabortion.com/>. This group states baldly that
    its goal is "to provide information [about misoprostol] to pregnant
    women who want to end their pregnancies, women who live in countries
    with restrictive abortion laws, countries where abortion is illegal,
    or for women who for some reason or the other do not have access to
    legal abortion services." So much for the rule of law.

    The misoprostol situation provides a unique dilemma for pro-lifers
    everywhere, especially those who have been working so tirelessly
    over the years to overturn the Roe vs. Wade decision. Here is a drug
    that can be used to circumvent the laws restricting abortion. Not
    only that, but this same drug has legitimate medical uses that make
    it impossible to demand that it simply be taken off the market
    altogether.

    According to PRI president Steven Mosher, "The first thing
    pro-lifers need to do is to make people aware of this new threat to
    life. Then we have to seek legal solutions to this misuse of a
    deadly drug, the medical malpractice that is involved, and be
    prepared to fight this same battle in dozens of countries around the
    world."

    This can be done, first and foremost, by educating people about this
    unapproved, off-label use of misoprostol, and how organizations like
    Gynuity and www.misoprostolabortion.com
    <http://www.misoprostolabortion.com/> are encouraging women to
    violate U.S. and international laws and regulations. [US federal
    rules allow doctors to prescribe drugs for "off label" uses]

    Finally, the FDA has a watchdog role to play here. Groups that are
    encouraging the off-label use of misoprosptol should be subject to
    regulatory action.

    This is not without precedent. In the late 1990's, population
    control enthusiast Steven Mumford was promoting quinacrine
    hydrochloride, a drug authorized for anti-malarial use only, as a
    chemical agent to sterilize Third World women. After PRI blew the
    whistle on him, the FDA acted. Mumford was ordered to cease and
    desist, and to destroy his stockpile of quinacrine.

    It is time for the FDA to act.

    Click here <http://www.fda.gov/comments.html> to contact the FDA, or
    send a letter to their mailing address at:

    Food and Drug Administration
    5600 Fishers Lane
    Rockville, Maryland 20857
    Telephone: 1-888-INFO-FDA

    /*Colin Mason is the Director for Media Production at PRI.
    */

    <https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/OptOut.asp?cid=1761&email=budpatmac@comcast.net&reid=16117&emid=173>

------------------------------------------------------------------------

PFLI PharmAid Center
pfli at pfli.org <mailto:pfli at pfli.org>
PO Box 1281
Powell, OH 43065-1281 USA
800-227-8359
www.pfli.org

PFLI supports pharmacist rights of conscience NOT to be forced to 
dispense or counsel for chemicals which violate their sincerely held 
religious, moral or ethical beliefs.  For more info see:
http://www.pfli.org/main.php?pfli=conscienceclausefaq

*** PFLI is the only pharmacy association which is exclusively pro-life.
It represents thousands of pharmacists and many lay supporters
in the USA, Canada and all around the globe. For membership info, key
PFLI texts, PFLI archives, late-breaking news, abridged newsletter excerpts
or general information, visit the PFLI web site at http://www.pfli.org.
Or e-mail us at mailto:pfli at pfli.org.

*** We do NOT send out SPAM. To subscribe to PharmFacts E-News, just 
send an e-mail with the word
"subscribe" in the subject area;  to cease your subscription (although 
we can't
imagine anyone would!) just send an e-mail with "unsubscribe" in the 
subject area, or
manage your account at: http://pfli.org/mailman/listinfo/pflienews_pfli.org

*** You may contact PFLI at any/all of the following: Pharmacists For 
Life International,
PO Box 1281, Powell, OH 43065-1281 USA,  1-800-227-8359 [US & Canada only],
 +1-740-881-5520 [voice] or +1-707-667-2447 [fax]; e-mail us at 
mailto:pfli at pfli.org.

*** You can order our publications as well as begin/renew your 
membership right on our
website at http://www.pfli.org. Click on the "PFLI Store" link on the 
toolbar and
follow the prompts! There you can also donate to PFLI as well as 
purchase a wide range of publications. 

*

*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://pfli.org/pipermail/pflienews_pfli.org/attachments/20080204/8ee38917/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 14952 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://pfli.org/pipermail/pflienews_pfli.org/attachments/20080204/8ee38917/attachment-0001.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: weeklybriefing.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 29147 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://pfli.org/pipermail/pflienews_pfli.org/attachments/20080204/8ee38917/attachment-0002.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 080204MVA.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 24112 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://pfli.org/pipermail/pflienews_pfli.org/attachments/20080204/8ee38917/attachment-0003.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 2923 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://pfli.org/pipermail/pflienews_pfli.org/attachments/20080204/8ee38917/attachment-0001.gif 