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December 00 features pages The debate over RU486 Long time waiting Murder, she wrote Theresa Anasti After about ten years of delays by anti-choice activ ists and politicians, RU 486, or mifepristone, has finally been approved by the FDA in Sep tember. In Europe, where it has been available for over a decade, it has been seen as a safe and effective alternative to surgical abortions. Even since the con troversial Roe vs. Wade decision was decided over 25 years ago, pro-lifers have consistently been trying to deter women from choosing to have an abortion; at times through violent means. Since mifepristone will broaden women’s choices and make it harder to target abortion clinics with violence and harassment, anti-choice politics has tried to deny women the right to non- surgical methods of abortion. In the United States, abortion clinics are relatively rare, as eighty-six percent of counties have no abortion pro vider. Even today, doctors still see patients who try to create a miscarriage by taking quinine pills, asking their boyfriends to jump on them, or come into the hospital with electrical cords hanging out of them. Since nearly half of all doctors in the U.S. are going to prescribe mifepristone, this will expand the number of abortion providers, making illegal and harmful abor tions less common. If this pill would to become available inter nationally, it would greatly re duce the 20 million unsafe abortions occuring every year. Many pro-lifers claim that the pill will make abortions more com mon and that it will be taken less seriously; however, the pill will cost almost as much as a surgi cal abortion, and it will involve frequent trips to the doctor’s office for physicals and other medical matters. Mifepristone merely provides a more private, safer alternative to the surgical abortions. Indeed, RU-486 is less harmful than surgical abor tions. The pill does not require an invasive procedure or sur Ratie Watlington Last month having an abortion became as easy as takinig a pill, when the FDA ap proved the drug mifepristone or RU-486. This drug allows women to have abortions in the first seven weeks of pregnancy without ever having surgery. Surprisingly the FDA put few restrictions on the drug, allow ing practically any doctor to pre gery, does not require anesthe sia, and does not have the risk of injury to a woman. In addition to abor tion, mifepristone, as an antiprogestin, also has other potential uses. Antiprogestins such as mifepristone can help induce labor, treat infertility, and help certain kinds of tumors. Mifepristone may also be useful in treat ing AIDS, but be cause a source of the drug has been previ ously unavailable, many medical leads have been delayed. The drug also works as an antiglucocorticoid, which means it may interfere with ad renal gland hormones which are involved in regulating tissues in the body; possible uses as an antiglucocorticoid in clude the treatment of Cushing’s disease and glaucoma. The ad- vancements mifepristone can pro vide are now being threatened by pro-life politicians. Mifepristone is one of the most important advancements in women’s reproduc tive health that we have seen in an ex traordinarily long time. Its approval has marked another mile stone to women's eomplete reproductive freedom and equality. As mifepristone becomes distributed across the country, women will no longer be subject to ridicule and fear as she makes a personal choice affecting her life. Indeed, a de- eision which should be made by a woman and her doctor should not be regulated by the govern ment. Ashley Rankin ' manufactures iiy Danco Until a few weeks ago, the abortion pill mifepristone, more commonly known as RU-486, was not readily available to women consider ing an abortion. This ehanged on September 28"’ of this year, when the FDA approved its sale in the United States. Since the controversial Roe vs. Wade deeision in 1973, there have already been 27 million abortions. Each year, four to five hundred chil dren are bom alive and then killed af ter late term abortions. Unfortu nately, many of today’s teenagers view abortion as a form of birth control. However, many of these teens forget that by making the choice to abort, they are eommitting what many view as murder. “Never before, has the FDA ap proved a drug in tended to kill people”, said Congressman Tom Cobum. After years of a steady decline in abortion rates in the United States, many pro-life activists feel that the pill will sim ply reverse these sta tistics and encourage women to view abor tion more casually. “I fear that making this abortions pill widespread will make abor tions more and more common rather than more and more rare”, said. Presidential candidate George W. Bush. Juxtaposed to a com mon belief among those who are not educated about the proce dure, its’ not as easy as popping th the pill a few pills and then it’s all over Objective opinion of RU486 scribe the dmg (as long as they have surgical backup). While mifepristone could change “a woman’s choice” drastically, it still has quite a few hurdles to climb. Another problem fac ing mifepristone is manufactur ing. Few companies are willing to face the opposition of pro ducing the pill. Even the French company who has been market ing the pill for years in France decided against marketing the pills in the US. Instead they donated the rights to the Popu lation Council in NYC. They eventually chose Danco to manufacture the drug. The com pany does not even have a listed phone number or a public office due to the controversy of the issue. Mifepristone is a type of antiprogestin. Progesterone is the hormone in women that is necessary for the development of the fertilized egg. After mifepristone is administered, the uterus begins shedding the lining thus dislodging the em bryo. Two days later Misoprsotol is administered which causes contractions that expel the embryo. It is about 95% effective. Whether this drug will be readily available soon is up in the air. The recent election of with. It’s at least a three-step process (which can take up to seven steps) and requires con stant monitoring by a doctor. Following the initial visits in which the doctor verifies that the woman is within 49 days of pregnancy, she returns in two days to the doctor’s office to take another pill which is de signed to abort the fetus, if this has not already occurred. The side effects of this pill aren’t a walk in the park either. In many studies now be ing conducted, most women ex perience excessive bleeding, nausea, and diarrhea. Other risk categories include high blood pressure, bronchitis, menstrual irregularity, a history of prob lem pregnancy, pelvic inflamma tory disease, allergies, epilepsy, adrenal insufficiency, and re cent intake of steroid or anti-in flammatory medication. The long-term effects of the pill are still unknown, as it is a relatively new procedure. Aside from these physical side effects, the psy- chologieal toll on the women who choose the method is ex tensive. In most studies, women who have been given mifepristone experience a greater risk of developing psy chological problems because of the lingering side effects, than women who choose the surgi cal method. “True, no anaes thetic is required, but a woman who wants to end her preg nancy has to ‘live’ with her abortion for a t least a week us ing this technique. It’s an ap palling psychological ordeal,” says Dr. Edouard Sakiz, who now heads Exelgyn, a company set up to market RU-486. Thus, the notion that a surgical abor tion somehow is more psycho logically damaging than a chemical one is very untrue. While many women feel that they have no other option, many pro-lifers feel that even if the child is not yet fully developed, it is murder, and should be outlawed. George W. Bush or A1 Gore will definitely effect whether abor tion will be legal in years to come. The future President has the right to appoint future members . of the Supreme Court, and with four possible spots opening up in the coming years it seems as though this year’s election may prove not only to be a decision over the Presidency but also over a woman’s right to choice or a baby’s right to life.
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