Faith and Family: RU-486 use on the rise

(The Patriot Post) - It’s butchery in a bottle, and it’s becoming the weapon of choice against unborn babies. RU-486, the so-called “non-surgical abortion,” is on the rise. According to a new survey by the Guttmacher Institute, RU-486 abortions “expanded substantially between 2000 and 2005.” The survey reported that although overall abortion rates are at their lowest since 1974, RU-486 abortions have been surging by 22 percent per year and now constitute 13 percent of all reported abortions and 22 percent of abortions performed by the ninth week of pregnancy. The reasons range from the increasing availability of the drug to its “privacy,” as it can be distributed in any doctor’s office, allowing women to avoid abortion clinics.

According to Beth Jordan, Medical Director of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, “It’s going a long way towards normalizing abortion.” Indeed, RU-486 already accounts for more than 60 percent of abortions in some European countries, and experts expect its popularity in the U.S. to continue growing. If that happens, the downward abortion trend may only be temporary. Unfortunately, because reporting requirements for RU-486 lag behind requirements for surgical abortions, we many never know the true number of unborn babies lost to the “convenience” of this pill.