Federal Food and Drug Administration Approves Sale of Mifepristone in the United States Essay

Ru-486For more than 10 years, European women have been able to use mifepristone, known there as RU-486, as a pharmaceutical alternative to surgical abortion during early pregnancy. Availability to women of the so-called abortion pill in the United States has been delayed, though, by the tense political climate of the abortion debate. On Thursday, the federal Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone for sale in the United States. The pill, to be marketed under the name Mifeprex, will be available only through physicians. It should be available in about a month. The approval of mifepristone is the result of the FDA's careful evaluation of the scientific evidence related to the safe and effective use of this drug, said Dr. Jane Henney, commissioner of food and drugs. The FDA's review and approval of this drug has adhered strictly to our legal mandate and mission as a science-based public health regulatory agency.Mifepristone, or the early-abortion pill, is as significant a technological advance for women's health as the birth-control pill was 40 years ago, said Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood Inc. It will enable them, if they choose to terminate a pregnancy, to do that earlier (and) to do it without surgery. For many women, that is a very positive thing. The pill is far less invasive than a surgical abortion and can be given in a physician's office.Mifepristone differs from the morning-after pill approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1998. Planned Parenthood has described the morning-after pill as emergency contraception (that) can prevent pregnancy up to 72 hours after unprotected intercourse. A synthetic steroid, mifepristone interferes with a fertilized egg's ability to adhere to the lining of the uterus. To cause abortion, it is used early in pregnancy with another drug, misoprostol, which prompts uterine contractions. Studies have shown that the drug is 92-95.5 percent effective in causing abortion when used within the first seven weeks of pregnancy. A very small percentage of...

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