AFTER a ten-year fight, the “abortion pill” RU486 is finally available in the
US. But the pill’s supporters fear theirs may be a pyrrhic victory, because
production of a second pill that has to be taken with RU486 is now under
threat.
RU486 (mifepristone) was approved in Britain nine years ago as an alternative
to surgical abortions in the first two months of pregnancy. But American
anti-abortion campaigners fought bitterly against it. Now that the US Food and
Drug Administration has approved mifepristone, attention has turned to
misoprostol, a prostaglandin pill originally developed to treat gastric
ulcers.
Supporters of RU486 told żěè¶ĚĘÓƵ that they fear anti-abortion
campaigners will target misoprostol supply because, although it is officially
produced to treat stomach ulcers, obstetricians use it to complete the abortion
process started by RU486.
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The Reverend Flip Benham, national director of Operation Rescue—one of
the most powerful anti-abortion groups in the US—says any drug firms
involved in pharmaceutical abortion will be targeted by his group. “If you’re
going to go ahead and make this pill, you better know that Christians in America
do not want to buy pharmaceuticals from you.”
RU486 blocks the action of the hormone progesterone, causing the lining of
the uterus to break down. Taken two days later, misoprostol makes the uterus
contract and the cervix dilate, helping to expel the embryo. But now it seems
even the company that makes misoprostol is getting the jitters.
For years, obstetricians have used misoprostol to dilate the cervix during
labour. But only when the FDA was about to approve its use with the abortion
pill—following pressure from RU486 supporters—did the manufacturer,
Pharmacia, send out a sternly worded letter warning against misoprostol’s use
during pregnancy. The drugs company insists that the letter merely warned of
adverse reactions in late pregnancy. But it has prompted many hospital
pharmacies to remove the gastric ulcer drug from their shelves, to avoid
possible lawsuits.
Campaigners who support a woman’s right to abortion fear Pharmacia wants to
distance itself from the abortion issue. They think that if the company is
targeted, it may stop making the drug, which would prevent the use of the
long-awaited abortion pill. “The only other drug that’s used in Europe is not
approved here,” says Sandra Waldman of the Population Council in New York, which
fought for the drug combination’s US approval.
A spokesperson for Pharmacia would not comment on the company’s plans for
misoprostol, but says it has recently lost patent protection for the drug and
that other companies could produce it. Stephen Fielding, who has studied
misoprostol at the University of Rochester in New York, says the drug has so
many uses that the company “will get a lot of heat from physicians if it tries
to pull it off the market”.