Family First NZ is supporting a march to the steps of Parliament tomorrow protesting against Family Planning applying to the Abortion Supervisory Committee for a license to use the abortion pill RU486 to perform abortions.

"This will mean that Family Planning will be able to talk women into having abortions, and then carry the procedure out on them," says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. "There is a huge conflict of interest here. Those offering advice shouldn't be the ones performing the abortions."

"There is also huge concern about the drug's considerable harmful effects on women's health, with a US track record that includes deaths and over a thousand reports of complications - many of them serious or life-threatening. RU-486 has produced none of the effects of normalising abortion that were predicted for it."

The US FDA has released reports of complications including death resulting from:

haemorrhage (excessive bleeding)

serious and sometimes fatal infections

missed diagnoses of ectopic pregnancy (outside the uterus, usually in the fallopian tube)

Up to 10% of women will still require surgical abortions to complete the process and there have been at least five deaths in the US that resulted directly from severe infection in the blood stream of women who took RU-486 orally.

Edouard Sakiz, chairman of Roussel Uclaf, the company that first marketed RU-486 said "As abortifacient procedures go, RU-486 is not at all easy to use . . . a woman who wants to end her pregnancy has to 'live' with her abortion for at least a week using this technique. It's an appalling psychological ordeal."

And Dr. Etienne-Emile Baulieu, the inventor of RU-486 "It's insulting to women to say that abortion now will be as easy as taking aspirins. It is always difficult, psychologically and physically, sometimes tragic."

Family First is calling for informed consent (including ultrasound) for women considering an abortion, and a 'cooling period' before making the decision. They also want parental notification for teenagers who are seeking an abortion.

"We believe women and teenage girls are entitled to the truth when faced with an unplanned pregnancy, including all the options available. They should not be exploited by Family Planning who have a conflict of interest, including a financial conflict of interest," says Mr McCoskrie.