RU-486 claims two more lives.

London -- Four months after British family-planning groups made application for the easing of restrictions on the use of the chemical abortion pill RU-486, public health minister Melanie Johnson admitted in mid-January that two women have died after taking it. She was replying to a question posed in Parliament by Jim Dobbin, MP (Labour) of the parliamentary all-party pro-life group (The Telegraph).

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service and the Family Planning Association had asked the Dept. of Health to regulate decreasing the number of doctor's office visits in the procedure. Currently two visits, plus a post-abortion checkup, are required. The groups are recommending that one visit at which both pills are issued is sufficient.

Jack Scarisbrick, chairman of the pro-life group Life, fears that a cover-up may have occurred. He said, "Given how unreliable the reporting system is, if two deaths have been reported, then there are probably 20 others that have gone unreported." He added," I hope this serves as a warning to women on just how dangerous these drugs are."

Several women are already known to have died from the effects of the pill in France and the United States. Effects on women can extend from excessive bleeding to toxic shock, and infection arising from foetal parts remaining in the uterus.