{"id":218397,"date":"2020-02-13T08:20:38","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T14:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=218397"},"modified":"2020-05-15T13:47:47","modified_gmt":"2020-05-15T18:47:47","slug":"lawmakers-fda-unethical-abortion-pill-african-experiments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lawmakers-fda-unethical-abortion-pill-african-experiments\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers urge FDA to scrutinize ‘unethical’ abortion pill experiments on African women"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Congressional leaders have issued a letter of concern over what they refer to as “an unethical chemical abortion trial” which is using the abortion pill to end second trimester pregnancies in minority women in the West African nation of Burkina Faso<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

The letter<\/a>, dated February 7, 2020, was addressed to\u00a0<\/span>Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, and signed by Reps. Mark Meadows (NC-11), Ron Estes (KS-4), and Chris Smith (NJ-4), as well as 29 additional colleagues. It\u00a0reads, in part:<\/p>\n

The study\u00a0recruited Burkinabe women who were 13-22 weeks pregnant\u2014the second trimester\u2014to test the effectiveness of mifepristone and misoprostol for an abortion…We find it troubling that Burkina Faso was selected as the location for this clinical trial, where poor health and safety conditions endanger the participants involved. Burkina faces a severe lack of medical professionals….<\/em><\/p>\n

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Congressional letter regarding abortion pill clinical trial Feb 7 2020<\/p><\/div>\n

Charlotte Lozier Associate Scholar Dr. Christina Francis reacted<\/a>\u00a0to the trial, saying, \u201cIn general, throughout Africa, regardless of whether you’re in this big city or a small village, blood products tend to be difficult to come by. There are national shortages very frequently\u2026. And so, even if you’ve got a woman in, say, the biggest hospital in the capital of Burkina Faso, that doesn’t mean that she’s going to have access to blood products just because she’s in that hospital.”<\/p>\n

Given that one of the possible adverse effects of the pill is heavy bleeding, the Congressional letter<\/a>\u00a0goes on to state, “[…]Africa also faces frequent blood shortages, and the clinical trial’s director, Dr. Blandine Thieba, even acknowledged<\/a> the dire need for blood bags in the country during the study.”<\/p>\n

In other words, if something goes wrong during the trial, Burkina Faso isn’t equipped to deal with the consequences.<\/p>\n

The clinical trial<\/a>\u00a0began recruiting in August of 2017 and is being sponsored by\u00a0Gynuity Health Projects.\u00a0<\/span>The abortion pill — Mifeprex combined with a second drug called Misoprostol — has only been approved in the U.S. by the FDA<\/a>\u00a0to end an early pregnancy up to 10 weeks or one which is 70 days or less since the woman’s first day of the last menstrual period<\/span>. <\/span>Live Action News previously<\/a> documented how, in this clinical trial<\/span><\/a>, Gynuity is <\/span>recruiting<\/span><\/a> children and adult women\u00a0for <\/span>late-term\u00a0<\/strong>abortions from 13-22 weeks.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Abortion Pill Clinical Trial outside US for second trimester sponsored by Gynuity (Image: FDA Clinical Trial website)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gynuity,\u00a0founded by Beverly Winikoff, M.D., M.P.H<\/a>, who had a previous contract<\/a> with abortion pill manufacturer DANCO Laboratories, has been aggressively working to expand abortion<\/a>\u00a0and has also been sponsoring U.S. abortion pill clinical trials<\/a>\u00a0via TelAbortion<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Winikoff<\/span><\/a> was previously employed<\/span><\/a> at the <\/span>Population Council,<\/span><\/a> which <\/span>brought<\/span><\/a> the abortion pill into the U.S. and set up <\/span>DANCO<\/span><\/a>. As previously documented<\/a>, the Population Council has been heavily steeped in eugenics. In addition, the abortion pill, formerly called RU-486, has ties to the manufacturer<\/a> of the deadly gas\u00a0Zyklon-B<\/a>, used by the Nazis during the Holocaust.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n