Houston, Texas, Jun 19, 2010 / 06:08 am
Writing to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about a new “emergency contraceptive” that may induce early abortions, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo said approval of “Ella” would endanger newly conceived life. Women who would never have a surgical abortion deserve to know about the drug’s possible abortifacient effects, he added.
The cardinal, who is the Archbishop of Houston-Galveston and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, voiced “grave concern” in his Thursday letter to FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg about Ulpristal, whose proposed market name is Ella or ellaOne.
He said the decision to hold an FDA advisory meeting on Ulpristal was held without “broad public input” and without a full record on the drug’s safety “for women or their unborn children.”
Concerns about other “emergency contraception drugs” focus on their potential not only to prevent ovulation but also implantation of a developing embryo in his or her mother’s womb, Cardinal DiNardo explained. While these drugs were thought to have no post-implantation effects, he warned that Ulpristal is “a close analogue” to the abortion drug RU-486.