The Abortion Pill

For the past few years, the introduction of RU-486 has caused heavy debate throughout
the country. Also known as the ‘abortion pill’, the use of the drug has become an
alternative to having a surgical abortion. RU-486 made the access of having abortions
easier for women to obtain. However, there are some severe consequences to taking the
abortion pill. Part of the debate over this drug is because of the health factors that it
poses and the other parts are of outside reasons. While there are dangerous side effects,
the Food and Drug Administration has allowed for the continual use of the drug and
through this approval, has made the drug legally okay to use. However, the legality of a
drug does not always mean that the drug is acceptable in or for society as some would
argue. There are people who believe otherwise, and so, this debate still continues.

RU-486, or rather now know as mifepristone, is a steroid that blocks a certain hormone.
This hormone that it blocks is progesterone, essential in sustaining pregnancy.
Progesterone acts as a jumpstart in feeding the developing child. The hormone causes the
body to get ready and prepare the uterine lining for pregnancy. Mifepristone blocks this
hormone by filling up the receptors that receive progesterone. In doing so, the body halts
its preparation of nutrients for the embryo and continues with the menstrual process. The
developing child suffers and dies by starvation and is shed along with the uterine lining.
[1]

In addition to taking mifepristone, a woman is also given another drug to increase the
effectiveness of the abortion. With just mifepristone, the drug induces an abortion 65%-
85% of the time. [1] When the dosage of the hormone blocker combines with a dosage of
misoprostol, the likeliness of an abortion increases to 95%. Misoprostol is a
prostaglandin pill that furthers the process of mifepristone. RU-486 also causes the
cervix to dilate and undergo contractions that aid in detaching the embryo from the body.
The addition of misoprostol intensifies these effects that occur to the cervix. Misoprostol
is taken two days after taking mifepristone. [2]

Like all drugs, there are several side effects to using RU-486 and misoprostol. Besides
abdominal pain and uterine cramping, the most common side effects that occur include
headaches, diarrhea, fatigue, nausea and vomiting. Women are expected to have vaginal
bleeding because of the nature and purpose of the drug. However, extremely heavy
bleeding may be a sign of more than what the drug should be doing. Fevers, fainting, a
fast heartbeat, infections and vaginal discomfort are other indications that something is
wrong. Medical attention may be needed. [3] In much less common cases, taking RU-
486 has led the deaths of several women. [4]

The drug was not available in the United States until a few years ago because of political
and health concerns. Developed by the pharmaceutical firm Roussel-Uclaf in France,
RU-486 was released in France, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The drug was banned
by the earlier Bush Administration in America and the Roussel-Uclaf company “had no
intention of marketing the drug in the U.S. or any other country where the company
perceived that political and social conditions were unreceptive to the drug.” [5] However,
it was during the Clinton administration that the use of the drug was accepted. The
administration asked the Food and Drug Administration to reevaluate the drug and
perform clinical trials. After a series of tests and attacks from pro-life advocates, the
drug was approved by the FDA in September 2000. [5]

Since then, the use of RU-486 has ‘caused’ seven deaths in North America. After using
mifepristone and misoprostol, four of the women suffered from bacterial infections. This
infection, sepsis, affects the bloodstream and induces a severe illness. According to the
FDA, however, the use of the abortion pills is not the cause of the infection. [6] Yet, there
are many people who still affiliate death with the abortion pill. When the FDA placed
stronger warning labels on the use of RU-486, others called for the drug to be taken off
the market because of the health risk that it proposes. The statistics tell a different story,
however. The numbers 1 in 100,000 patients that die from taking the RU-486 pill
implicate that it is a safe method of abortion. [7]

The question of whether or not the drug is safe is the façade to the underlying problem of
whether or not abortions are ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Is the drug ethnical, should women have
the right to make this choice of abortions? Perhaps the controversy is more a religious
one than a battle posed by health risks. The debate is among pro-life and pro-choice
activists with the use of RU-486 as its new core. RU-486 was the drug that was
introduced as an easy way to having an abortion without surgical operations. It is
relatively quick to take effect, usually within hours of taking the pill. [5] The pill also
allows for more discrepancy and is easily accessible to those who want it. This option
allows women more options and more freedom. The availability of RU-486, to an extent,
commercializes and desensitizes the effects of having an abortion. “An overwhelming
majority of women who choose mifepristone for medication abortion are satisfied with
the method. One study found that 97 percent of women would recommend the method to
a friend. Additionally, 91 percent of the women reported that they would choose the
mifepristone regimen again if they had to have another abortion.” [5] These statistics are
frightening because it seems that the women are not taking abortions seriously. It makes
having an abortion seem like a normal, everyday occurrence.

Despite the above statistics, there are psychological effects that come with the non-
surgical abortions. Because the release of the drug was recently, long term studies have
yet been conducted. However, the short term effects are there. Some women reported
seeing parts of their baby in the shower drain or toilet bowl. Their encounters with their
unborn child are supposedly greater than those who have surgical abortions because they
can see what their child looks like rather than having to imagine the images. [1] Does this
mean that a woman’s right to abortion should be taken away because of such possible
consequences? Those who are pro-choice say ‘yes’, and women’s choice of having
abortions is still currently theirs. Those who are pro-life and say ‘no’ are heavily
protesting the ban of RU-846.

Ethnics and religious beliefs on the topic are similar but are not quite the same. Religious
conservatives (pro-life) have been pushing for the disappearance of the drug. Their belief
that abortions are wrong stems from the belief that having an abortion is equivalent to
killing a life. But this poses the question: what is life? Does life begin with the embryo?
Or does it begin with the first, second or third trimester stages?

During the first trimester, is from the first day to the twelfth week of pregnancy. The
embryo undergoes rapid development and becomes a fetus. RU-486, in order to work, is
taken before the seventh week of pregnancy. In the seventh week of pregnancy, the baby
is five weeks old and the arms, face and legs being to appear. The pill can still work up
to the ninth week of pregnancy, and by this time, the baby has developed its ears, fingers
and toes. [1] In the second trimester, the umbilical cord thickens and continual growth of
the fetus ensures. The fetus develops enough, in this stage, to be seen as a human. This
second trimester results in the formation of the heart, lungs and kidneys of the baby. The
third trimester is last and the final developments of the baby form. [8]

When is life considered to form for humans? There are many differing opinions on when
life actually begins and what life is. To determine what life is- is subjective, I believe.
Discussions in class have shown that science is always evolving like an ongoing story in
order to find the most truth based on adaptations to our own new observations. The
debates on abortions are a result of this science; it is the challenges of belief of some
people against other some peoples. There are those people who believe that life starts
earlier and that abortions are death sentences for these unborn children and there are
others who believe otherwise and that the mothers should have the choice of what to do
to their own bodies. The drug RU-486 is contested now because it is one of the most
modern ways of getting abortions and like most inventions now, it makes something
easier and quicker to get done. However, unfortunate, death resulting from the use of this
drug is very rare but extremely controversial because of the nature of this drug’s actions.
RU-486 is like many other drugs that are approved by the FDA, it sometimes produces
certain lethal consequences to few who take them. Many of those drugs fly under the
radar, but RU-486, the abortion drug, has not been as unnoticeable.

[1] http://www.nrlc.org/RU486/ru486info.html#What%20is%20RU486?
[2] http://www.religioustolerance.org/aboru486e.htm
[3] http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/500217.html#SXX20
[4] http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=19552
[5] http://www.plannedparenthood.org/news-articles-press/politics-policy-
issues/abortion-access/mifepristone-expanding-womens-options-for-early-abortion.htm
[6] http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/mifepristone/
[7] http://medicalethics.suite101.com/article.cfm/RU486SafetyConcern
[8] http://www.medicinenet.com/pregnancy/page5.htm