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It isn't acne that is scarring this woman's soul. She did not even know for sure that the child she killed did in fact have the mentioned defect.

You are the first in this long thread to mention the ethics of assuming an abortion risk for personal vanity.

How can a woman risk either a birth defect or an abortion for her personal vanity?

I also find it offensive that some try to justify this risk by suggesting the alternative is psychological damage or suicide. Get over it on your own. There are lots of people born "ugly" who will never have such a cure. They lead just as normal lives as the rest of us.

I see some women concocting BS reasons to avoid censure by others, since, of course, there was never a conscience to impinge.

From the article: ...McCoy was shocked to discover that her IUD had failed. But her dismay turned to joy because she and her husband had been talking about having another child. "You should have seen the look on my husband's face," she says. "He was saying this was meant to be."...

Then a local specialist on birth defects arranged for McCoy to meet the adoptive mother of a retarded child with facial anomalies caused by Accutane exposure. Their discussion clinched her decision to end the pregnancy. Painful as it was, she told her husband: "We can't do this to our family."

After McCoy's abortion, the couple decided never to revisit the idea of expanding their family. And McCoy is back on Accutane. "My skin glows when I'm using it," she says. "I would die if they took it off the market."

I thought the same thing you did, ikka. Why would she have an abortion without first attempting to find out whether or not the child was deformed? Who knows? Maybe, she aborted the child so she wouldn't have to cease taking her Accutane for 9 months. After all, she said she'd "die" without it. Her husband obviously wanted to have more children, but they won't be doing that now nor will they ever consider having children in the future. But, that's OK, because her skin just glows.

Kennard, I was surprised (as you probably were too) that so few posts to this thread addressed what you summed up quite well as "the ethics of assuming an abortion risk for personal vanity".

I don't think this drug should be taken off the market, but I think that it probably will be since it's being used and prescribed so recklessly. It should only be given to patients with severe acne, and all non-sterile women of childbearing age who take Accutane should abstain from sexual intercourse.