Video series underscore the dangers of recently approved abortion drug

Elizabeth Mabie
Spur Ottawa Correspondent

Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) is releasing a series of short videos to raise awareness about RU-486, a harmful abortion drug recently made available in Canadian pharmacies.

“Each video is making an argument against RU-486 and why it’s bad, but feeding that in bite-sized forms that people can digest, remember, and share,” explains Marie-Claire Bissonnette, CLC’s youth coordinator and a spokeswoman for the pro-life organization.

The first information video was posted on the CLC Youth’s YouTube account in early March. The videos focus more on women’s health, rather than the baby. Through these videos, CLC aims to grab the attention of a secular, pro-abortion audience.

“We don’t want to communicate that the baby is less important,” explains Bissonnette, “but we do want to make it appealing to people who aren’t convinced of the importance of the baby so they share this information with people who aren’t pro-life.”

The videos also introduce a hashtag, #RU486RuCrazy, which has been circulating around social media. While the videos have the potential to reach thousands of people, they aren’t the only focus of the campaign. CLC is also preparing to host presentations for youth leaders, highlighting the dangers of the RU-486 drug.

“Youth leaders are on the front lines of the fight for life,” says CLC lobbyist Johanne Brownrigg, who came up with the idea for the videos. “They might encounter teenage girls in crisis pregnancies in their own church groups or friends of girls in such situations. As the drug becomes better known, these girls will consider taking it to end the life of their unborn child.”

Victoria Bredfledt is the co-youth coordinator at Holy Name of Mary Parish. Bredfeldt is highly involved in the pro-life movement and serves as the campaign’s Ottawa contact.

“Jeremiah 1:5 says, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,’” she says. “In this particular passage, you can clearly see how this drug would not be pleasing in God’s sight. It not only does harm to the woman taking it, but it also kills God’s precious creation.”

“We believe it’s very important to inform people who are informing others,” adds Bissonnette. “Just by informing girls and boys in their youth group about what this drug does to an unborn child and what this drug can do to them, that’s acting in a loving, Christ-like way.”

RU-486 (also known as Mifegymiso) was developed in France, in 1980. However, Canadian trials of the drug were halted, in 2001, after one woman died of septic shock.

“It needs to be said that feminists purport to protect women and their rights, but when it comes to Mifegymiso they have been deliberately cavalier about the side effects it causes,” states Brownrigg. “They have compromised women’s health for the sake of ‘convenience’. If we weren’t speaking up about RU-486, no one would be.”

While the drug was approved in 2000, in the US, a 2011 report by the Food and Drug Administration exposed that 2,207 women experienced adverse effects directly linked to RU-486. Of that group, 339 needed blood transfusions, 256 contracted infections, 58 had ectopic pregnancies, and 14 died.

In 2015, leading up to the election, the Conservative Government approved Mifegymiso and it has gradually made its way into pharmacies. But Bissonnette says the fight isn’t over.

“We hope the awareness goes viral through pro-life groups and other people working against this drug and that this will cause more opportunities for MPs to bring forth motions against it.”