The Right to a Safer Alternative

The looming question about RU-486 was never whether the French abortion pill was safe and effective but whether it would be available to American women. Results from the first U.S. study should pretty well put to rest concerns about the drug’s use. But the research results, reported this week, now throw into sharp relief the political battle that has surrounded debate over this drug from the first. What’s needed is a pharmaceutical company willing to stand up to the extreme antiabortion groups and market this drug for those who choose to use it.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has tentatively approved the sale of RU-486, commonly known as mefipristone in this country, based on the results of a clinical trial involving 2,015 women at 17 medical centers. Conducted by the Population Council, which owns the U.S. patent on the drug, the study found RU-486 highly effective in terminating pregnancy, particularly during the early weeks. Moreover, the drug appears to be quite safe, with fewer side dangers than the conventional surgical abortion.

But final FDA approval awaits a drug firm willing to manufacture RU-486 for American women--and to withstand the certain protests and boycott threats from groups opposed to abortion. One firm, Hoechst Marion Roussel, last year abandoned plans to market RU-486, fearing a retaliatory boycott of a promising new asthma drug. Others have not even come that close. Perhaps now one will step forward.

A quarter-century after Roe vs. Wade, federal and state courts continue to affirm a woman’s right to choose an abortion. Yet fear and even violence have eroded that right, frightening clinics into closing their doors and doctors away from performing the surgical procedure. In some communities, women who seek abortion services now cannot find them. RU-486 offers hope for a safe, more available alternative.