PRO-LIFE GROUPS ORGANIZE BOYCOTT OF RU-486 COMPANIES
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- A coalition of pro-life organizations will be asking
adherents to boycott pharmaceutical firms associated with a French
abortion pill company that recently handed over rights to the U.S.
Population Council to begin testing RU 486 for Food and Drug
Administration approval.
RU 486, says Dr. Wanda Franz, president of the National Right-to-Life
Committee, Inc., "will bring us serial killing by abortion, on a massive
scale, with the full encouragement and support of President Clinton and
his pro-abortion administration."
In addition to the NRLC, Dr. Franz said, others taking part in the boycott
will be the Southern Baptist Convention Christian Life Commission, the
Christian Coalition, Concerned Women for America, the Family Research
Council, and Focus on the Family.
On May 16th, after nearly a year of negotiations, Roussel Uclaf of Paris
announced it had given patent rights for RU 486 to the tax-exempt
Population Council of New York, an abortion-advocacy organization
supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. Saying "we hold Roussel Uclaf and
its parent company fully responsible," Dr. Franz noted: "We acknowledge
that this action would not have occurred without the specific
encouragement of the Clinton administration."
Dr. Franz said the pro-life group will be asking "tens of millions of
pro-life Americans to boycott" pharmaceuticals and other products from
Hoechst AG, the German parent company; Roussel Uclaf, the French
manufacturer of RU 486; and U.S. subsidiaries of the international drug
conglomerate: Hoechst Celanese and Hoechst-Roussel. Which products might
be included in the boycott will be announced at a later date, Dr. Franz
stated.
Many industry officials say, however, that Hoechst-Roussel- its main U.S.
firm - has few products to boycott, since most of its brand-name
pharmaceuticals are now available as generic alternatives, anyway. In
addition, RousseI Uclaf, the French subsidiary, markets no products in the
U.S. while Hoechst AG, the German parent company, has for years opposed
introducing the abortion pill here. During World War II, Hoechst AG was
part of the I.G. Farben company, producer of Zyklon B, the gas used by the
Nazis to eliminate Jews and others "devoid of value" in various
concentration camps.
Dr. Franz did not indicate whether the coalition might expand its boycott
to include the Chicago-based G.D. Searle Company, the sole producer of
misoprostol, a drug that must be used with RU 486 to expel the uterine
content following the abortion pill's action. A spokesman for Searle told
"The Wanderer" about a year ago (June 24th, 1993) that his company was not
interested in "getting involved" with the Population Council's testing of
RU 486. Misoprostol is marketed by Searle under the brand name "Cytotec"
to treat patients having problems using some anti-ulcer medications.
"Should the RU 486 abortion technique ever be used in this country," Dr.
Franz noted, "there will, most certainly, be an increase in the number of
abortions from the already enormous number of 1.6 million each year, with
untold numbers of women injured and even killed." Also, she said, "we are
concerned that licensing in the U.S. will encourage widespread use of RU
486 on Third World women," where one of the drug's most serious side
effects, excessive bleeding, will affect many who are already anemic and
suffering from malnutrition.
RU 486 must be used three to seven weeks from fertilization- when the baby
to be aborted already has a heartbeat, arms and legs, facial features, and
brain waves-Dr. Franz pointed out. If RU 486 is approved by the FDA,
there will be no way to prevent abortionists from using the drug beyond
the seven-week maximum for safety, simply because most women will not know
accurately the time they conceived.
Some notes here on media attention to the upcoming RU 486 testings by the
Population Council:
* Widely syndicated columnist Molly Ivins-a writer for <The
Nation> and other ultraliberal publications-assures readers:
"Abortion Pill Will Not Cause Increase in U.S. Abortions." Says
Ivins: "I love the network of French feminists who have been
smuggling RU 486 into other countries for rape victims." And,
"someday, the leading role [in trafficking in RU 486] played by
airline flight attendants, who are so stereotyped as sex
kittens, will be recognized."
* "Name just one other drug for which the President has
personally lobbied," asks Charmaine Crouse Yoest of the
University of Virginia. "Having advocates like the Population
Council bring this drug into the country presents a clear
conflict of interest," Yoest notes in an op-ed contribution to
<The Wall Street Journal> (May 25th, 1994) entitled, "RU
486-Sunny Rhetoric vs. Bloody Reality."
This article was taken from the June 16, 1994 issue of "The Wanderer," 201
Ohio Street, St. Paul, MN 55107.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The electronic form of this document is copyrighted.
Copyright (c) Trinity Communications 1994.
Provided courtesy of:
The Catholic Resource Network
Trinity Communications
PO Box 3610
Manassas, VA 22110
Voice: 703-791-2576
Fax: 703-791-4250
Data: 703-791-4336
The Catholic Resource Network is a Catholic online information and
service system. To browse CRNET or join, set your modem to 8 data
bits, 1 stop bit and no parity, and call 1-703-791-4336.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
