I received the following email yesterday from Monty Patterson, father of Holly Patterson, who at the age of 18 died due to an RU-486 abortion in 2003.
Mr. Patterson gave me permission to post his note and sent a link to an informative July 2006 Ladies Home Journal article detailing Holly's death, along with others, and the risks of taking RU-486.
From: Monty Patterson
Dear Jill...
Angie Jackson's attempt to "demystify" medication abortions with pills can send the wrong message to women and young teens with respect to their health and well being.
Her message, "It's not that bad, it's not that scary, you too can have an abortion if you want one," approach is not always the case when it comes to terminating an unplanned pregnancy.
There are serious risks with the so called "abortion pill" procedure and those risks must be communicated in a clear, concise, and responsible manner so women can make informed decisions. Most women may hear about the rare possibility of death associated with medication abortion but let's put a name and face on one such example.
Let's not forget about what happened to 18-year-old Holly Patterson in 2003 and her experience with an early pregnancy termination using the Mifeprex (RU486/misoprostol) regimen. She died a tragic death after 7 days into her procedure. She was in perfect health and a pinnacle of fitness. Her story was well publicized throughout the news media and the internet.
As her father, my experience at the hospital, where she eventually died, was terrifying beyond any words that I could possibly describe.
Try to imagine the thoughts that went through Holly's mind during the last few precious moments of her life. I'm positive all she could think about was the basic instinct to survive her hopeless ordeal. I'm sure it wasn't the information she had received from Planned Parenthood that the procedure was "a safe option for ending pregnancy in the privacy of your home and it comes in an easy-to-take pill form."
I hope that Angie realizes she may be sending an unrealistic message and impression to other women and teenagers that a medication abortion really is not that dangerous. I can personally tell you that it can be a serious and life threatening procedure that can end in death.
Angie is an adult who made a conscious decision based on the resources and information she obtained. To share her reality experience with others is exercising her rights of freedom of speech and press.
However, from a parent's perspective, she might be influencing teenagers, some as young as 14 years old, that it is simply "no big deal." It is a big deal, and I'm sure that if Holly were alive today she would tell us that she made a poor and uniformed choice based upon her options at the time. Teenagers may not have the experience or knowledge to make these important life decisions on their own.
I am also very concerned that women between the ages of 20-30 years old, who are most likely to have a medical abortion, will perceive it as an extremely safe procedure with little risk to their safety, health and welfare.
Social media, such as Twitter and YouTube, has now made it possible for anyone to publish and broadcast their own sensational news story. Let's be responsible and use it wisely as someone's life may be depending on it.
Sincerely,
Monty Patterson
Contact: Jill Stanek
Source: jillstanek.com
Publish Date: March 11, 2010
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