Open letter to live tweeting aborter Angie Jackson from father of teen who died from RU-486 abortion
I received the following email yesterday from Monty Patterson, father of Holly Patterson, who at the age of 18 died due to an RU-486 abortion in 2003.
Mr. Patterson gave me permission to post his note and sent a link to an informative July 2006 Ladies Home Journal article detailing Holly’s death, along with others, and the risks of taking RU-486.
From: Monty Patterson
To: jstanek@worldnetdaily.com
Sent: Wed, Mar 10, 2010 4:37 pm
Subject: IMPORTANT: Medical Abortion – Let’s not Forget Holly Patterson
Dear Jill…
Angie Jackson’s attempt to “demystify” medication abortions with pills can send the wrong message to women and young teens with respect to their health and well being.
Her message, “It’s not that bad, it’s not that scary, you too can have an abortion if you want one,” approach is not always the case when it comes to terminating an unplanned pregnancy.
There are serious risks with the so called “abortion pill” procedure and those risks must be communicated in a clear, concise, and responsible manner so women can make informed decisions. Most women may hear about the rare possibility of death associated with medication abortion but let’s put a name and face on one such example.
Let’s not forget about what happened to 18-year-old Holly Patterson in 2003 and her experience with an early pregnancy termination using the Mifeprex (RU486/misoprostol) regimen. She died a tragic death after 7 days into her procedure. She was in perfect health and a pinnacle of fitness. Her story was well publicized throughout the news media and the internet.
As her father, my experience at the hospital, where she eventually died, was terrifying beyond any words that I could possibly describe.
Try to imagine the thoughts that went through Holly’s mind during the last few precious moments of her life. I’m positive all she could think about was the basic instinct to survive her hopeless ordeal. I’m sure it wasn’t the information she had received from Planned Parenthood that the procedure was “a safe option for ending pregnancy in the privacy of your home and it comes in an easy-to-take pill form.”
I hope that Angie realizes she may be sending an unrealistic message and impression to other women and teenagers that a medication abortion really is not that dangerous. I can personally tell you that it can be a serious and life threatening procedure that can end in death.
Angie is an adult who made a conscious decision based on the resources and information she obtained. To share her reality experience with others is exercising her rights of freedom of speech and press.
However, from a parent’s perspective, she might be influencing teenagers, some as young as 14 years old, that it is simply “no big deal.” It is a big deal, and I’m sure that if Holly were alive today she would tell us that she made a poor and uniformed choice based upon her options at the time. Teenagers may not have the experience or knowledge to make these important life decisions on their own.
I am also very concerned that women between the ages of 20-30 years old, who are most likely to have a medical abortion, will perceive it as an extremely safe procedure with little risk to their safety, health and welfare.
Social media, such as Twitter and YouTube, has now made it possible for anyone to publish and broadcast their own sensational news story. Let’s be responsible and use it wisely as someone’s life may be depending on it.
Sincerely,
Monty Patterson
[Top photo via Ladies Home Journal; bottom photo of Holly Patterson’s funeral via SFGate.com]

BRAVO. Props to you for writing this letter, and I’m so very sorry for the loss of both your daughter and grandchild. May your reunion in heaven be joyous.
I cannot begin to imagine the heartache Mr. Patterson has gone through. I thank him for sharing his daughter’s story.
I’m speechless. Thank you Mr. Patterson for sharing the story of your beautiful daughter Holly. I know God will bless you for using your tragedy to save others lives, both moms and babies. Thank you!
Amen Mr. Patterson…. Holly did not die in vain. Her story saves lives across our great country.
Mr. Patterson I am indeed sorry for your loss. May I say there is a need to get your story out to potential abortion-minded women throughout the nation and the world, so they can make an informed decision.
Women and teen girls please understand that from a medical standpoint this is not a small feat, there is absolutely nothing “quick or easy” about getting a healthy, developing embryo once it has implanted into the endometrial lining to dislodge from the endometrial lining, the embryo is EMBEDDED into the uterine lining (becomes one with and a part of the uterus) which allows the endometrial lining which is full of rich maternal blood to nourish and to protect the baby until the placenta is completely formed and functioning so it can take over these functions. The amount of bleeding, cramping, retching, nausea, vomiting, tremors, etc. it takes to detach a healthy preborn baby from the lining and abort him or her is indeed an awful experience. It is a bloody, painful mess. If you do not pass all of the products of conception it can lead to severe bleeding, clotting, uterine infection, septic blood infection, hysterectomy, shock and death. RU-486 may not work so you still may have to have a D&C surgical abortion or a D&C to clean out the remaining parts of your baby or the tissues from your uterus. Stop lying PP and pro-aborts. PP LIES TO YOU!!
The comments have been made before…do women know how much bleeding is “normal”? How do women KNOW when the abortion is not going as its supposed to and that they need to seek medical attention?
Of course, considering the lack of care being seen in abortion centers (I can think of several in the news media recently) surgical abortion isn’t very safe either.
Are women truly being informed of the risks?
I’ve read Holly’s story before. What a hearbreaking thing! I am truly sorry for her father and the incredible pain he must feel.
This is one of the most heartbreaking stories I’ve ever heard. I’m so sorry that Holly’s family had to suffer such a tragic loss.
I have a question! How come when a tv commercial airs for the RU486 pill why are they not required to list “death” as a possibility?
Good question Robyn. Let’s see wonder if it has anything to do with scaring some women off, women having second thoughts coupled with the ring of the cash register CA-CHING everytime these women pay probably at least $200 a pop for the pills and PP knowing if RU-486 doesn’t work they will still make at least $300-500 more to finish the job of giving her what she asks for “a dead baby”. Do you think that might have something to do with it.?
Like Sarah Palin would say “YOU BETCHA”.
” I can personally tell you that it can be a serious and life threatening procedure that can end in death.”
well we all know that at least one person always dies in an abortion.
The mother of the baby however, doesn’t expect to die even though she is ending her baby’s life.
“Teenagers may not have the experience or knowledge to make these important life decisions on their own.”
yup which is why parents need to be told about their children’s “choices”
This is tragic all around. My heart goes out to Patterson who lost his daughter and his grand child. :(
This was too important, and I had too many points to raise in response, to just comment. I blogged it here.
AHBritton, what is the rate of death? What is the rate of maternal death due to childbirth and pregnancy v. the rate of death due to RU486. The rate, not the absolute numbers.
When an Indiana teenager was alleged to have died of an “illegal abortion” the feminists and MSM went ballistic.
A young woman dies from a legal RU485 abortion and it is statistically insignificant.
A double standard here?
This is a tragic ending for both mother and child. My condolances to the family. Angie the Athesit should thank God the same did not happen to her. I wonder if she’ll ever get to read Mr. Patterson’s letter? The drug should be taken off the market or have possible death as a woring sign. These abortion clincs will anything possible in the name of MONEY, it’s tragic.
This is a tragic ending for both mother and child. My condolances to the family. Angie the Athesit should thank God the same did not happen to her. I wonder if she’ll ever get to read Mr. Patterson’s letter? The drug should be taken off the market or have possible death as a warning sign. These abortion clincs will anything possible in the name of MONEY, it’s tragic.
I’m so sorry, Mr. Patterson. Thank you for everything you have done in loving memory of Holly.
Mary: The MSM has so totally gone off the deep end as to be a caricature. Unfortunately, Sharonica glosses over the tragedy much like our friends in the MSM…yeah, its too bad this girl died but the real story is in the numbers. Crass! The point I think you missed, Sharonica, is that the death was so unecessary.
When the intrinsic value of life is measured through the narrow lenses of statistical evaluations we are in sorry times. It is a slippery slope that will apply uniformly even as circumstances change and a person finds him or herself on the short list.
I believe I posted some statistics here earlier regarding the tragic death of many individuals.
It seems to have been erased. I will double check to make sure it was not published elsewhere before I repost.
Jerry,
“When the intrinsic value of life is measured through the narrow lenses of statistical evaluations we are in sorry times.”
What I am reading here is that lives lost to abortion have more intrinsic value than lives lost, for example, to childbirth, therefore statistical comparisons of relative risk are unimportant. Anyone who disagrees with your arbitrary distinction is being “crass.”
Do you have a basis for this discrepancy of valuation other than which deaths score political points for the anti-abortion-rights movement?
Arium,
What I was pointing out was the double standard of abortion advocates, who seem to think only a death allegedly caused by “illegal abortion” is worthy of mention or outrage.
It was abortion advocates who howled like banshees over this alleged “illegal abortion” death. So one could just as legitimately question if an abortion death is only of concern if the woman died illegally, while Holly’s death is reduced to a statistic?
Oh and Arium, we have often gotten stats here on the women who die from illegal abortion worldwide, but we hear nothing of the deaths of women from abuse, neglect, malnutrition, treatable disease, natural disaster, warfare, violence, etc.
So, let’s discuss double standards where they apply to both sides. Are lives lost to illegal abortion more intrinsically valuable than those lost to other causes?
Mary,
Somehow I seem to have missed the illegal abortion death story on the feminist and MSM news sources I follow, so I cannot speak to your “went ballistic” or “howled” characterizations.
That said, I must disagree over the existence of a double standard. Of course any death of a person is tragic, and all medical procedures carry some risk. However death due to lack of access to a relatively safe medical procedure understandably causes concern.
As an analogy, a very small number of people die each year due to adverse reactions to vaccines. While unfortunate, this is substantially smaller than the number of people who would die of disease without the vaccines.
Of course feminists discuss harms to women other than illegal abortion. It is understandable that in a forum such as this that focuses on abortion, however, that statistics presented would relate to the topic at hand.
In a thread of condolences to the father of a beautiful daughter who died by using RU-486, I find it very telling that others want to come on and say
It’s sad, and unfortunate BUT…
Arium,
The illegal abortion story concerned an Indiana teenager alleged to have died of an illegal abortion. It was on 60 minutes, Oprah, her picture was put up in NARAL and NOW offices, etc.
National RTL did some research and it was determined the young woman died of natural causes and in fact miscarried.
The media and feminists went wild with this story without the benefit of any serious research. We never did hear how this alleged illegal abortion even occured or the medical evidence that supported this claim.
This young woman’s death “proved” that parental consent laws were a death sentence, thus promoting the agenda of the PA side. Facts be damned, run with the story. They had a martyr to their cause.
The lives of minor girls who died having abortions without parental consent or knowledge were not worthy of mention since they did not serve the feminist or PC media agenda.
Frankly, I was surprised the number of women alleged to be dying from illegal abortion around the world is statistically quite small considering the world population. More people died in the Haitian quake. Do women die in far greater numbers from the other causes I mentioned? If so, is this irrelevant compared to illegal abortion deaths?
OK, Mary, you had me stumped. You were talking about Becky Bell, who died in 1988. Perhaps at one time I was aware of that story, but it was long since forgotten. (I wasn’t following feminist causes closely back then.)
The picture painted by the NRLC is plausible, although I need glance at its home page for only about 4 seconds before determining that the organization has no qualms about distorting the truth to fit its agenda.
It is also plausible that a reproductive rights organization could be too quick to reject new information related to a case like this. What seems much less likely to me is that her parents would have been uninterested in understanding the facts regarding their daughter’s death.
Of course unsafe abortion is not the leading cause of death for women, but this is not a zero sum game: Different groups can work to improve different aspects of women’s lives. There is also overlap between causes: Batterers often sabotage birth control as a means of controlling their victims, for example.
Arium,
I was reluctant to mention Becky’s name out of respect to her memory and family. I suppose that’s moot since it is on the internet and was certainly publicized.
Also, NRLC consulted medical experts who referred to the claim of an illegal abortion as “this incredible lie”. So this was hardly about their agenda. I have yet to see any medical evidence that Becky had an illegal abortion and none was ever presented by “60 Minutes” or any of the feminist groups exploiting this tragedy.
I’m convinced her parents, who had no medical background, were trying to make sense of their troubled daughter’s very tragic and sudden death. These were people in deep grief and shock who could easily be misinformed, misled and exploited. I do not for a moment believe this was deliberate deceit on their part.
My point Arium is that abortion deaths are exploited for political agendas. Those who decried Becky’s alleged illegal abortion death were strangely silent about Holly’s RU486 death, as well as the death of Dawn Ravenell, a 14y/o girl who died after obtaining a legal abortion without parental knowledge or consent. Those who cry about the number of illegal abortion deaths worldwide say nothing about women dying from other equally preventable causes.
I posted an article a few days ago documenting My Experience Inside the Abortion Clinic.
I was made aware of all of the possible side effects, including death, and got the same treatment and care that I have gotten from other doctor’s office.
It’s tragic that some women die from Mifepristone, but there aren’t many 100% safe medical procedures out there. A small risk of death isn’t a good enough reason to ban a medical procedure.
As for feminists focusing on deaths from illegal abortions and not deaths from legal abortions. It would be the same as a group fighting for universal health care focusing on deaths from illegal procedures. Everyone knows that legal medical procedures carry a risk but nowhere near the risk of illegal procedures.
Sorry Persephone,
But the feminists were and are motivated by a political agenda. Becky’s death served such an agenda, opposition to parental consent laws, so facts be damned, she was exploited as a martyr to a cause. Deaths of minor girls from legal abortion, like Dawn Ravenell, however were not considered worthy of mention, much less outrage.
Also, from what I have seen posted here, worldwide deaths from illegal abortion are miniscule in number. More Haitians died in the earthquake than did women die in a three year period from illegal abortion from what I have seen posted. More children die every day of malnutrition.
BTW Persephone, the death rate from abortion, legal or illegal, in this country the year prior to Roe v Wade was at an all time low, around 36. Wouldn’t we be overjoyed if that was our country’s murder rate?
Definitely a political agenda at work here.
Louise,
Thanks for the question. Sorry I have been distracted. I didn’t realize someone had responded before my post had been removed. I will reply back with those numbers. Although I have not heard a response from a request I made to the site administrator trying to make sure my next comment is not removed.
AHH, sorry for the double post. Computer trouble.
Louise,
I appreciated your question and hopefully this comment will remain up long enough for you to read it. I feel I found a pretty good set of numbers from which to come to a relatively informed perspective.
The numbers I have found are stated as the average amount of deaths per 100,000 people.
According to the government Center for Disease Control, the maternal mortality rate was 12.1 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies in 2003.
It does go up and down, in recent history up for some reason, but generally works out to between 8-13 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies. At least we can be thankful it is much less than in 1915, when the number was 607.9 deaths per 100,000.
Another obvious sign that it might have a tie to the quality of healthcare, and economic status is the fact that it was only 8.7 per million for caucasians but 30.5 per 100,000 for african americans.
For all types of induced abortions the CDC figure I was able to find was from 1998-9 and it stood at less than 1 death per 100,000 abortions. I found a more exact, less up to date CDC number that put it at 0.7 out of 100,000 and as low as 0.3 out of 100,000 in 1990.
As far as RU-486 (Mifepristone) specifically, it is in many ways harder to determine for sure because while there are obviously tons of pregnancies and births every year, and only a small fraction of people have used Mifepristone in the US to terminate pregnancy, compared to the other things to which it is being comparing.
Compared to abortion in general, especially surgical abortion, it is definitely more risky. Compared to carrying the child to term, it is much much less likely to kill you. From what I can tell, the best figures at this point seem to be at around 1 death per 100,000 abortions. As compared to deaths from viagra, which is around 5 deaths per 100,000.
I hope that was helpful to you and anyone else who is interested. I appreciate your time, have a wonderful day.
AHBritton…if you are getting your figures from CDC then you will not get true figures for abortion morbidity. If you would read the book “Lime 5” the author does a much better job of of explaining this.
They code the deaths in such a way that it is sometimes hidden that the mother had an abortion. Such as, the mother’s cause of death might be listed as a heart attack…what they don’t show is that it was caused by an abortion. Of that she died of an embolism…again, they might not list that it was caused by an abortion. The author showed how you can’t just go by CDC figures but have to really dig through death certificates to get the truth…and who has time to do that?
The maternal death rate for women having abortions is much higher than the CDC reports.
Exactly as Sydney has said. AHBritton, I invite you to read about reporting here:
http://www.afterabortion.org/PAR/V8/n2/abortiondeaths.html
And, Abortion Four Times Deadlier than Child Birth: http://www.afterabortion.org/PAR/V8/n2/finland.html
Sydney M,
Thanks for the information :) I will look into it for sure and try to get back to you.
I would just like to point out that for abortion to be more dangerous than childbirth the CDC numbers would have to be underreporting at a rate of ~2000%. Seems pretty high to me, but I suppose it is not completely impossible.
Thanks again, I’ll write back later to once I look into it.
I don’t know if anyone can explain but some of my postings seemed to be erased and others not. I cannot figure out why. I e-mailed the the address Jill Stanek’s blog provides and have received no response.