Non-surgical, medically induced, early abortions

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1980 until now: The RU-486 abortion pill

Overview:

The medication "mifepristone" was developed in France by Dr. Etienne-Emile Baulieu in 1980. He found a medication that prevented a woman's body from producing a hormone that sustains early pregnancy. Taking this medication terminates the pregnancy process. It is commonly known as RU-486, where "RU" stands for the initials of the company, and "486" is an arbitrary laboratory number.

However, some commentators have suggested that RU-486 really means "aRe yoU FOR getting rid of." ("86" is an English slang term that means "throw out" or "get rid of.") ₂

RU-486 was first made available to women in France, where it is called Mifegyne. It has been used, in combination with a second medication, prostaglandin, to induce abortions in in many hundreds of thousands of pregnancies. It is effective if used early in pregnancy. It works similarly to a natural miscarriage.

Dozens of clinical studies on RU-486 were conducted with thousands of women in over 20 countries, including France, Britain, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the U.S., Scandinavian countries, and the former Soviet Union. ₃ By 1999, mifespristone had been approved for marketing and sale in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, the Netherlands and Spain. ₄

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2000-DEC: RU-486 finally became available in the United States:

Danco Laboratories, the U.S. distributor, had expected to be selling the pill in that country by the end of 1999. ₃ That did not happen. The FDA finally approved the pill for U.S. distribution on 2000-SEP-28. It first became available to the public in 2000-DEC. The Alan Guttmacher Institute estimates that during the first six months of 2001, more than 37,000 abortions were induced using RU-486 and similar medication. This represented approximately six percent of all abortions performed, during its first year on the market. ₅

As of 2002-MAY, initial indications were that about 29% of women who are eligible to use RU-486, and to whom it was offered, have chosen it in preference to a more invasive surgical abortion. ₆

By mid-2015, the use of RU-486 in some European countries has risen to include about 60% of all abortions, the rest being done surgically. In the U.S. it was used in about 20% of all abortions. However, with so many Republican dominated state legislatures passing restrictive legislation that is forcing abortion clinics out of business, RU-486 will probably become the preferred path to terminate pregnancies in the future.

Topics covered in this section:

	Regulation & production difficulties
	How it works; what the expelled embryo looks like. Contraindications
	Safety
	Reaction of pro-life and pro-choice groups
	Can taking the RU-486 "abortion pill" or undergoing a surgical abortion be an ethical decision?
	News items from the media: 1999 and 2000 2001 to 2003 2003 to 2005 2006 until now

References:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. Childbirth by Choice Trust has a very complete and balanced article on U-486 at: http://cbctrust.com
2. "86 (number)," Wikipedia, on 2016-APR-23, at: https://en.wikipedia.org/ The author of this essay added a reference to RU-486 under the topic "Cultural references" on 2016-APR-23.
3. "Pros and cons of abortion pill," Toronto Daily Star, 1999-JUL-19.
4. Letter to this web site from the Population Council, 2000-MAY-25. Their web site is at: http://www.popcouncil.org
5. Amy Westfeldt, "RU-486, similar pills accounted for 6 percent of U.S. abortions, study finds," Associated Press, 2002-JAN-15, at: http://www.nola.com/
6. Kate Silver , "Abortion pill slips under radar," Las Vegas Weekly, 2002-MAY-16, at: http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/

Copyright © 1997 to 2020 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2020-AUG-03
Author: B.A. Robinson

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