Eighteen-year old Holly Patterson went to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Hayward, California on September 10 and was given the dangerous abortion drug RU-486 (mifepristone) to end the life of her seven-week unborn child. She was also given misoprostol to use two days afterward to produce contractions and expel the dead baby. A week later, Holly was also dead.

After taking the drug she suffered severe pain and was bleeding heavily. She went to a local medical center on September 14 but was given pain killers and released. She finally entered a hospital on September 16 but died the next afternoon. Her parents are devastated; they did not learn of the pregnancy and abortion until the day before her death.

While the exact cause of Holly’s death is still being investigated at this writing, it is known that RU-486 can be a very dangerous drug. In April 2002, the U.S. maker of the drug, Danco Laboratories, told doctors in a letter that six women in North America have died from using RU-486. Further, the second part of the RU-486 abortion procedure is to use the drug Cytotec (generically known as misoprostol). Searle, which makes Cytotec as an ulcer drug, issued a warning in cooperation with the FDA three years ago that it is not approved for induction of labor or abortion. The company warned that its misuse could cause adverse effects such as a ruptured uterus, vaginal bleeding and maternal or fetal death.

National Right to Life and VSHL have consistently maintained that RU-486 is a dangerous drug that should not have been approved for use.

Published in VSHL Lifesaver, October 2003