A panel of the Food and Drug Administration has recommended approval of a new "morning-after" pill that could be dangerous.
The so-called "new generation" contraceptive is called ellaOne and reportedly is effective up to five days after intimacy. It has been commercially available in France, German, and the United Kingdom since last fall -- but the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, which studied the drug, admits they have no solid information on how the drug would affect women who do get pregnant.
Jeanne Monahan with Family Research Council says she is disappointed in the FDA's action. She tells OneNewsNow the drug can cause an abortion -- an aspect was barely talked about during the agency's hearing this week on the contraceptive.
"In addition, we know that because the chemical compound is similar to RU-486, which is the one legal abortion drug in the United States, there could be some serious potential health effects on women," cautions Monahan.
In the six years after that abortion drug was legalized, more than a thousand medical emergency incidents were documented in the U.S. "Six deaths, nine life threatening incidents, 232 hospitalizations, 116 cases needing blood transfusions -- and then 88 infections," Monahan outlines.
Just as with RU-486, there has been no research on ellaOne to determine long-term side effects on use of the drug, especially multiple uses -- effective making women who use it guinea pigs. Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America expressed those concerns in an earlier interview with OneNewsNow.
Although the panel's positive recommendation does not require it to do so, the FDA is expected to give final approval for the drug.
What's the most likely reason behind the apparent rush
to approve another abortion pill?