For Immediate Release
June 15, 2010

Contact: Virginia Zignego, Communications Director, 262-796-1111, cell (262) 370-399
Or Matt Sande, Legislative Director, (262) 796-1111, cell (262) 352-0890

Videoconference abortions in Wisconsin?

Iowa is the only state in the U.S. to provide abortions through videoconferencing, a process whereby a woman consults with a doctor on a video camera, and at the end of the "appointment," out pops abortion-causing drugs from a drawer in front of her.

A recent New York Times article revealed that abortion providers across the country are asking how they can replicate this method.

Currently, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin [PPWI] dispenses birth control, which can act as an abortifacient, via teleconferencing. Video phones, which are the size of a laptop computer, are at 10 Planned Parenthood locations, chosen because they are the organization’s Title X clinics and receive funding from the federal government. Federal tax dollars financed the setup of PPWI's teleconferencing system, reports the Milwaukee Business Journal.

“PPWI has the videoconference infrastructure in place to dispense hormonal birth control, including the morning after pill, which can cause pre-implantation chemical abortions,” said Virginia Zignego, communications director. “There doesn’t appear to be anything in Wisconsin law or code that would hold them back from using videoconferencing to dispense mifepristone, the medicine formerly known as RU-486, which is designed to cause post-implantation chemical abortions.”

The Food and Drug Administration released public documents to Concerned Women of America listing over 600 adverse effects of women taking this drug. These included 220 cases of hemorrhage that were either life-threatening or extremely serious, 71 of which required blood transfusions. Women taking mifepristone typically bleed for one to two weeks, with 10% bleeding for more than one month. The average woman loses four times the amount of blood from a standard surgical abortion.

“Mifepristone is a toxic substance hazardous to women’s health,” said Zignego. “Several deaths have been attributed to mifepristone. Its prescription and use ought to be highly restricted, if not banned.”