Will Holly Patterson Die in Vain?
Eighteen-year old Holly Patterson entered a Planned Parenthood clinic on a Wednesday expecting to safely abort her pregnancy. Within one week, she was dead.
Everything that could go wrong went wrong: A young, unmarried pregnant woman decides not to discuss her untimely pregnancy with her parents and instead turns to an abortion clinic for a chemical abortion. One week later, she is dead.
The story of 18-year old Holly Patterson’s death reignites debate over the controversial abortion drug, RU-486. The drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for distribution under the brand name of Mifeprex on September 28, 2000. Holly died on September 17, 2003, one week after starting the chemical abortion regimen.
Mifeprex is the first in a two-drug chemical abortion technique given to women who are up to 7 weeks (or 49 days gestational age) pregnant. First, a woman is given Mifeprex (also know by the generic name of mifepristone), which acts to block progesterone — a hormone necessary to maintain pregnancy. Mifeprex causes the uterine lining to shed, disconnecting (and in essence starving to death) the developing preborn child. A second drug, misoprostol, is taken a day or two later and causes the womb to expel the now-dead embryo. Taken in tandem, the two drugs cause an induced chemical abortion.
Proponents of Mifeprex say the chemical abortion process is safe, citing more then 150,000 U.S. women who have successfully used the drug to abort pregnancies. Yet, the word “safe” denotes something is free from risk or hazard — a term that many contend does not accurately apply to Mifeprex.
It’s safe to say that Holly Patterson had no intention of dying from a chemical abortion when she entered the abortion business September 10 to start the process. The same is probably true for Brenda Vise, one of two other U.S. women whose deaths, according to the FDA, are linked to the drug. A Canadian woman who died in September 2001 after taking the chemical during drug trials in that country also almost certainly expected to survive. Among those who live to tell the tale of Mifeprex are at least 22 U.S. women who the FDA reports required hospitalization or another "intervention to prevent permanent impairment or damage" after taking the drug since its U.S. debut.
Many of the names and stories of women injured or even killed in connection with Mifeprex remain hidden, a fact that makes Holly Patterson’s story so important. We know details about Holly’s death in large part because of her family. Her father and mother have spoken publicly about the circumstances surrounding her death, grieving her decision to keep them in the dark regarding her pregnancy and questioning the safety of Mifeprex.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported on September 30, 2003 that Holly’s father, Monty believes his daughter “did not have adequate information and supervision to go through with the abortion on her own.” Patterson told the newspaper, “The medical community treats this as a simple pill you take, as if you’re getting rid of a headache….This procedure, the follow-ups, it’s all too lackadaisical. The girl gets the pill. Then she’s sent home to do the rest on her own. There are too many things that can go wrong.”
Unfortunately, in Holly’s case, it did.
Mifeprex is unique as it is the first drug approved for the U.S. market for the sole purpose of ending a human life. It has no therapeutic value to the patient (the mother) and its success is measured in its ability to destroy the preborn baby in her womb. In that regard, Mifeprex is effective. And in the case of Holly Patterson and others, it was more effective than they bargained for.
For more information on Mifeprex/RU-486, click here
Carrie Gordon Earll is the Senior Policy Analyst for Bioethics at Focus on the Family and a fellow with the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity.
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