2002: Heart Attack After Chemical Abortion Kills Healthy Young Woman

“Kylie” was 21 when she underwent the chemical abortion that took her life.

Somewhere in Washington state, Kylie underwent an abortion with the drug RU-486. It had not been long since the drug had been approved in America, and she likely didn’t know it was not as safe as advertised. An experimental trial in Canada the year before had been shut down by the government after a healthy young participant developed a fatal infection and died within days and another had a heart attack and barely survived. Brenda Vise had bled to death in Tennessee after negligently being given the abortion pill when her pregnancy was actually ectopic. A decade before that, Nadine Walkowiak in France was killed by a massive coronary thrombosis, which led to a warning being placed that RU-486 should not be given to those with risk factors for heart problems.

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After the chemical abortion, Kylie didn’t have long to live. She suffered a heart attack three days later. This may have been a result of mifepristone’s direct effects on the cardiovascular system, an embolism that lodged in or near her heart, severe blood loss or an overwhelming infection, but the small report in a single newspaper did not specify further.

While some stated that they could not say for certain the extent of the role of RU-486 in Kylie’s heart attack, the cardiac risks of the drug were already well-documented. Similar cases were later seen in areas that legalized the use of RU-486 for abortions. A case report published in 2004 documented a Canadian woman in her 20s who was killed by overwhelming infection and heart failure after a mifepristone abortion. In 2012, 19-year-old Jessie-Maye Barlow died of an extreme infection that destroyed a valve in her aorta. In 2014, Anna Maria M. of Italy went into atrial fibrillation and died after a chemical abortion despite being perfectly healthy beforehand.

Kylie was not the first to die in the United States after a chemical abortion, and sadly, she was far from the last. Others include:

• Holly Patterson, 18

• Chanelle Bryant, 22

• Oriane Shevin, 34

• Hoa Thuy “Vivian” Tran, 22

• Brenda Vise, 38, 2001

• Amber Thurmand, 28 (2022)

• Alyona Dixon, 24 (2022)

• “Wanda Roe” (2006)

• “Sabrina Roe”, 18 (2007)

• “Carmen Roe”, 29 (2008)

• “Belle Roe”, 21 (2009)

• “Ella Roe” (2009–2010)

• “Sadie Roe”, 24 (2013)

• “Petra Roe”, 40 (2015)

• “Dana Roe”, 41 (2017)

• “Taylor Roe”, 33 (2017)

• “Brandy Roe”, 27 (2020)

• “Dove Roe”, 26 (2020)

• “Clara Roe”, 22 (2021)

• “Corrie Roe” (2021–2022)

• “Chelsea Roe”, 36 (2022)

• “Lucy Roe”, 29 (2022)

• “Luna Roe”, 31 (2022)

• “Talia Roe”, 26 (2022) *suicide

• “Alina Roe”, 31 (2023)

• “Jayden Roe”, adolescent but exact age not specified (reported 2024)

• “Mandy Roe”, 28 (between 2003 and 2007)

• “Tina” and “Toni” (reported in 2017, probably occurred much earlier and went unnoticed)

The Roanoke Times, April 21 2002