HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 1012

         A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION,  Urging a reconsideration of the Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone (RU-486), an investigation into the process followed in approving this drug, and a reassessment of the drug's safety.

     WHEREAS,  mifepristone (RU-486), a drug used to induce abortions, was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration in just six months under a special provision intended to accelerate the review of life-saving drugs for serious and life-threatening illnesses; and

     WHEREAS,  a woman in Iowa nearly bled to death while participating in the United States drug trials; the death of a Canadian woman prompted the government to suspend drug trials in Canada; and in China, where mifepristone (RU-486) is manufactured for use in the United States, China's own state drug administration curtailed the dispensing of the drug following reports from Beijing-area hospitals of women suffering from dangerous side effects of the drug; and

     WHEREAS,  France, England, Sweden, and China, but not the United States, require various methods of strict evaluation and observation of pregnant women following the ingestion of the second drug, misoprostol, in the mifepristone (RU-486) abortion protocol such as immediate access to resuscitative cardiopulmonary equipment, the taking of blood pressure readings every half hour, and an observation period of four to six hours; and

     WHEREAS,  it is incumbent upon the Food and Drug Administration to give paramount consideration to the safety and well-being of the citizens of the United States, and there is evidence that the mifepristone (RU-486) abortion protocol has serious and sometimes lethal adverse effects on pregnant women:

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED,  by the House of Representatives of the Seventy- seventh Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the President of the United States, the United States Congress, and the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services be strongly urged to reconsider the United States Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone (RU-486); to investigate the process by which the Food and Drug Administration reached its decision to approve this drug; and to reassess the safety of this drug.

---

Adopted by the House of Representatives,
Concurred in by the Senate,

Scott Eccarius Speaker of the House	Karen Gerdes Chief Clerk of the House
Carole Hillard President of the Senate	Patricia Adam Secretary of the Senate