Cardinal Van Thuan Observatory condemns RU-486

Vatican City, Dec 3, 2009 / 01:14 am

The Cardinal Van Thuan Observatory recently issued a statement condemning RU-486, known as the abortion pill or mifepristone, as an “expression of a disgregating culture that destroys the passion for life and delivers a blow to the very origins of the meaning of being together.”

The Observatory, whose aim is to promote the social doctrine of the Church on an international level, issued a “decalogue” which lists 10 reasons against chemical abortion.

Among the listed concerns is the fact that the abortion pill is dangerous for the health of the woman as it is merely “poison,” also known as Mifepristone, that is being ingested.

“The Mifepristone is handed over to a woman who takes it on her own; pain and bleeding begin after a few hours and she has to deal with and monitor everything all on her own, and then report that at a later visit when she is prescribed a second 'pill' which helps in the definitive expulsion of the embryo,” says the decalogue.

Additionally, the Observatory states that the process of chemical abortion “forces a woman into solitude.”

“All this takes place over a period of time that can go from three to fifteen days, with a great degree of individual variability regarding the pain symptoms, which can be dealt with through prescribed pain killers that she still has to take herself.  It is unthinkable for all this to take place under regular hospital conditions in light of the very high costs inherent in admittance for such a long time. This puts a woman all on her own in dealing with the abortion, as used to happen and still happens in the case of ‘clandestine’ abortions.”

The decalogue also condemns the abortion pill on the grounds that it “makes abortion a trivial matter” by being marketed as a “drug” that will cure an “illness.” The pill, according to the Observatory, “ushers in two dramatic errors: the first is how abortion is considered something easy, and the second that an abortion falls within the sphere of medical therapy.”

“The fact that it isn’t easy is demonstrated by the experiences narrated by women, the many sufferings that remain unknown and can erupt on the surface even many years later,” continued the statement.

“Moreover, it is a grave falsehood to lead people to think that pregnancy is an 'illness' that can be 'cured' (eliminated) through recourse to a medicinal option. A pregnancy is the presence of a new human being, not a headache or a bad cold: they are not to be dealt with in the same way!”

Other concerns listed in the decalogue include the fact that one does not have to be a physician to prescribe the pill as well as the lack of time a woman has to make a decision in taking it. “The pills are given to women within a necessarily short lapse of time since they must be taken within the first 49 days of pregnancy in order to be effective,” says the statement. This does not allow women “any time for any in depth reflection on the final decision.”

The Observatory concluded its remarks on RU-486  by saying that “despite efforts to make it unfelt, trivial and routine, abortion remains a gravely unjust act, bereavement to be dealt with and a wound to  be healed.”