Teen Dies After Taking Abortion Pill

By MIELIKKI ORG, Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - An 18-year-old who had concealed her pregnancy died of complications one week after she began taking RU-486 (news - web sites), also known as the abortion pill.

Holly Patterson, who lived in the San Francisco suburb of Livermore, visited a Planned Parenthood (news - web sites) clinic Sept. 10 to take the pill. She followed the prescribed procedure for using RU-486, taking two more pills at home in the following days.

After experiencing bleeding and cramps so severe that she was unable to walk, her boyfriend rushed her to the hospital, where she was given painkillers and sent home. She was back in the hospital a few days later and died on Sept. 17.

Her father said he had no idea that his daughter was pregnant or that she was taking abortion drugs.

“Every time I think about it, I think, ‘She suffered in silence,’” said Monty Patterson. “She felt she would disappoint everyone around her, and then she had to carry that whole load. I wish she could have told me so I could have helped her.”

Monty Patterson later learned that a massive infection caused by fragments of the fetus left inside his daughter’s uterus caused her to go into septic shock. Planned Parenthood says it is now investigating Patterson’s death.

Danco Laboratories, which makes RU-486, estimates that 150,000 women in the United States and more than 600,000 worldwide have used the pill since it was invented in France in the 1980s.

Two women who took it in the United States have died, although the FDA (news - web sites) says it is unclear if their deaths were directly related to the pill’s use.

Patients who take RU-486 take the first pill under the care of a physician. A second medication called misoprostol, taken three days later, induces labor so the embryo can be expelled.

Planned Parenthood’s web site compares the process to having a miscarriage. In 5 to 8 percent of cases, surgery is required to stop the patient’s bleeding.

Eric Schaff, chair of the National Abortion Federation (news - web sites), which promotes non-surgical abortion, said aspirin causes more deaths than RU-486.

Although he said he did not blame the pill for his daughter’s death, Monty Patterson regretted that she and her boyfriend hadn’t received more information and support from family members, counselors and physicians.

“What’s disturbing is these young couples, they are relying upon what they think is good, solid info, and relying on what they think is a supportive network telling them everything is OK,” he said. “I would have said, ‘You know what, they don’t know everything. Let’s get more information.’”

Don’t expect this to get too much play in the mainstream press.

That is all I’ll say on this subject.

That’s right, you heard it here first on the Twatteaser News Channel. All Day! Every day! :P

I was going to reply to you Luvdadus, but I decided not to be antagonistic. I think I have ruffled your plumes too much with our last debate over the “budget” thread. All I will say is that the AP is as mainstream as you can get. We’ll have to wait and see how much “play” this really gets though.

Respectfully,
Beowulf

AP is a newswire service.

Many Many Many stories from the AP get no airtime or page space.

We will see.

Respectfully,

LUV

What a sad story. I don’t know why she just didn’t just go to a clinic and get it done properly. I guess the easy way out always look good until it fails. I don’t think they should have approved the drug in the first place, but this is the same place that considered partial abortions. I guess that is what it was called.

” After experiencing bleeding and cramps so severe that she was unable to walk, her boyfriend rushed her to the hospital, where she was given painkillers and sent home. She was back in the hospital a few days later and died on Sept. 17.”

It seems that the hospital was negligent in sending her home with pain killers.

Some patients are afraid of surgery or anesthesia and see the abortion pill as a more comfortable way. There is a narrow window in which this method works (in terms of weeks of pregnancy) and going beyond the recommended maximum can cause problems.

I agree that the hospital should not have let her go, but did she tell them the truth concerning her problem? She seemed to be reluctant to discuss it with family and perhaps carried that over to the strangers in the ER.

Didn’t PP say that 5-8% REQUIRE surgery to stop uncontrolled bleeding?(according to twatteaser news) It sounds like she didn’t let the ER know what was going on.

I think we are missing the point.The hospital caregivers are at fault not the medication.Aspirin kills 600 people per year and always will.We give heavy duty anxiety drugs to people who are depressed than we are surprised when some of them die.Now for “my” sermon.If every unwanted child was born we would have a crippling social problem within one year.If the baby is over 6 months old it will never be adopted and go into foster care which is extremely overburdened as it is.Our taxes in any country would skyrocket and we would have 10’s of thousands of damaged and abused children more than we already have.I do not like or believe abortion is the best remedy but as we know from this board sex is the #1 thing on most peoples minds.When I dispute right to lifers and I get to the point where I say are you willing to give up at least $500 or more likely $1000 a month more to taxes,I have never received an answer.And please don’t tell me that they can force the parents to pay.If you are a deadbeat dad in the US and owe less than $20,000 they don’t care (just ask my wife or tens of thousands like her).End of sermon and slightly of topic.

Women still also die during childbirth. I hope people don’t try to use this incident to ban the abortion pill.

quote:

TT: Is the Cialdini quote from Influence or one of his shorter articles? I don’t remember it, but I dig it.

I think it is from Influence.

Well, now two people died instead of one.