Portland, OR -- Recently the drug manufacturer Searle issued a warning letter to doctors nationwide urging their drug Cytotec to not be used as the second part of the two-part RU 486 abortion process. The drug, made only as an ulcer treatment, is being used in abortions in a way that is medically dangerous to women.

Before its misuse as part of the RU 486 abortion process, Cytotec was wrongly used by doctors to induce labor, Searle says. Now, a recently-settled lawsuit in Portland sheds light on the dangers of misuse of the drug.

The undisclosed settlement, reached in December after a 2-year trial in Mulnomah County Circuit Court, went to Michael O'Connor of Portland, Oregon. On Jan. 28, 1997, O'Connor lost his wife Margaret an hour after she gave birth to their third child at Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland.

Margaret O'Connor was admitted to the hospital for what appeared to be an "unevenful" labor, but was prescribed misoprostol (Cytotec) to hurry the birth. However, after delivering the child, she began bleeding profusely and died.

FDA figures show 30 cases of a rupture of the uterus related to the use of misoprostol. In eight cases, the unborn child died even though abortion was not the intent. In the Portland case, the mother died.

Gale Attebarry, executive director of Oregon Right to Life, told the Catholic Sentinel, Portland's archdiocesan newspaper, that O'Connor's death "tragically proves" that the pro-life community is right about RU-486. Said Atteberry, "The pro-life community has always warned that RU-486 abortions are deadly not only to the unborn but to the women."