An activist from feminist movement Femen is detained by police officers after she disrupted an anti-abortion march in Madrid November 17, 2013.

Dr Sheila Dunn has complained that Canadian women have a lack of access to chemical abortion.

She wrote in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that it was strange for her that no one, so far, had marketed abortion drugs like mifepristone in Canada. She wonders why $80 million of tax-payers' money should be spent on surgical abortion every year when there is a chemical equivalent to it. While Ms Dunn is bang on in terms of the economy of the business, she may have failed to recall that there is a more serious aspect of the procedure, which is left to be compromised: women's health.

Let us reflect a bit on what she prescribes for Canadian women. Mifepristone happens to be a synthetic steroid which has been frequently questioned all over the globe for the health risks involved in the abortifacient. Roussel Uclaf, the company that is responsible for designing the drug, calls it RU-38486 or RI-486. FDA Orange Book shows that the drug is marketed as Mifeprex and Korlym.

The drug has been severely campaigned against in the U.S. due to the adverse reaction a woman may have to tolerate after the consumption of the drug. There is a proposed "RU-486 Suspension and Review Act" (popularly known as Holly's Law). Except in the U.S., the drug is strongly protested against in Australia and Germany as well. Author Renate Klein published a book earlier in 2013, 'RU-486: Misconceptions, Myths and Morals'. The book calls the drug 'unsafe' as a 'second-rate' method of abortion which causes 'significant problems'.

Going with the statistical reports, about 4,000 women required blood transfusion and 21,000 women needed curettage. On the other hand, 150,000 of them went through severe bleeding after consuming the drug. Statistical evidence from the Food and Drug Association shows that 14 women died in the U.S. due to RU-486 in 2011. A Canadian woman had a clostridium infection and died of septic shock after consuming the drug in 2011. Another woman in Australia died after consuming RU-486 prescribed by Marie Stopes International Clinic.

The Australian referred to a study which claimed that surgical abortions are significantly less complicated than RU-486.

With reference from an article written by Alissa Golob on LifeNews.com