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…
