U.S. health regulators say two more women have died after using the controversial abortion pill, RU-486.

The Food and Drug Administration has not confirmed the cause of the deaths but said one resembled four cases in California in which women died from an infection in the bloodstream after not following FDA-approved instructions, the Associated Press reported.

A seventh case, in 2001, happened to a woman with a tubal pregnancy, in which the fertilized egg implants outside the uterus.

The approved procedure for dispensing the drug requires swallowing three tablets then, two days later, swallowing two tablets of another drug.

In the most recent cases, and in California, the abortion drug – known also as Mifeprex or mifepristone – was dispensed by Planned Parenthood-affiliated clinics.

Instead of swallowing the pills, the women in California had the second course of pills inserted vaginally – an "off-label" recommended by most abortion clinics. It's not known if that procedure was followed in the two most recent cases.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc. stated it will immediately stop recommending vaginal insertion of the final course.

The group estimates the abortion drug, sold by Danco Laboratories, has been used 560,000 times in the U.S. since it was approved by the FDA.

A bill in the Senate promoted by Republicans Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma would suspend sales of RU-486 until the FDA's approval of the pill is reviewed by the Government Accountability Office.

"RU-486 is a deadly drug that is killing pregnant women," DeMint said. "This drug should never have been approved, and it must be suspended immediately."

The bill is also called "Holly's Law," after 18-year-old Holly Patterson of California, who died in 2003 after taking the pill.

As WorldNetDaily reported last year, pro-life groups deemed the FDA's decision to strengthen language on the drug was "insufficient" after reports that two more women had died.

An FDA announcement last year on RU-486 mentioned the deaths linked to the drug but did not release information about near-fatal adverse events.

Wendy Wright, senior policy director forConcerned Women for America, said, at the time, the FDA "allows the death toll to mount and confesses to being ‘baffled' by the deaths."

Wright says the work of Brown University professor Ralph P. Miech holds a possible answer to why RU-486 causes harm to women as well as their babies.

His study shows that during an abortion, mifepristone works by blocking the effects of progesterone, shutting off nutrition to the placenta and fetus.

But Miech points out the anti-progesterone effects of mifepristone also cause changes in the cervix that allow a common vaginal bacteria, called C. sordellii, to enter the cervical canal.

The bacteria thrives in the low-oxygen environment and derives nutrition from the decaying fetal tissue.

Mifepristone also disrupts the immune system, which "impairs the body's ability to fight off C. sordellii and may help spread the bacteria's toxic by-products, a combination that sometimes results in widespread septic shock," Miech says.

He points out that the women don't exhibit the usual warning signs of an infection, mainly, a fever.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, CWA received public documents listing more than 600 adverse events of the drug.

Two OB/GYNs who assessed the reports found they included 220 cases of hemorrhage that either were life-threatening or extremely serious, 71 of which required transfusions.

Also, 392 reports indicate a surgical procedure was done, many under emergency conditions.

"Women trust that the FDA is doing its job to protect our health," said Wright. "To continue this trust, the FDA should withdraw its approval of RU-486 before more women die.

---

If you would like to sound off on this issue, participate in today's WND Poll.

---

Special offers:

SUPREME FRAUD: Unmasking Roe v. Wade, America's most outrageous judicial decision -- receive it FREE when you subscribe to WND's Whistleblower magazine!

How your tax dollars target unborn: Kelly Hollowell uncovers twisted science in 'Struggling for Life'

NOTE: When shopping in WND's online store you have the option of paying with either a credit card or a check.

If you wish to order by phone, call our toll-free order line at 1-800-4WND-COM (1-800-496-3266).

---

Previous stories:

Abortion pill warnings 'insufficient'

Safety warnings added to abortion pill

Christian docs in battle over RU-486

FDA advisers: Make 'morning after' pill easy to get