On September 28, 2000, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved the marketing of the RU486 abortion pill in the United States. The Clinton-Gore Administration, which claimed it wanted to make abortion rare, embraced this drug-induced abortion technique which undoubtedly will result in more abortions and new risks to women.

Despite heavy publicity by the pill's promoters claiming that the RU486/prostaglandin method is a safe and effective alternative to surgical abortion, ^1,5 controlled testing has offered a very different picture.

In France, a woman suffered heart failure and died after taking RU486 in combination with its accompanying prostaglandin.2 In America, one of the women participating in the U.S. trial of RU486 nearly bled to death after taking the abortion drugs (See An Iowa Doctor Gives A First Hand Account below)

Every RU486 abortion involves at least two drugs, RU486 (also called "mifepristone") and a prostaglandin (PG), usually misoprostol. These drugs are dangerous for a number of reasons.

RU486 is a complex chemical molecule effecting multiple systems of the body.3 This is why it has effects not only on a woman's reproductive system, but her cardiovascular, digestive, and central nervous systems as well.3 Misoprostol, the prostaglandin ordinarily used in conjunction with RU486, has its own side effects, triggering the painful, often nauseating, contractions that expel the dead baby. ⁴

Because of the pain, bleeding, nausea, fevers, and other side effects, these drugs are often further supplemented by additional drugs such as antispasmodics, ⁵ antibiotics, narcotic analgesics, etc.,3 each of which comes with its own attendant risks and side effects and potential interaction problems.

In England, one of just five countries (including the U.S.) where the drug is allowed, all pills are numbered to ensure that they are not released to untrained personnel. ³ In France, the country with the most experience with the drug, the government requires that any facility dispensing the drug have an electrocardiograph and emergency resuscitative equipment nearby. ⁶

Does it sound safe and simple to you?

• PAIN:  79% - 96% of women taking the RU486/PG combination reported pain, 4,17 so bad that as many as half required some form of analgesia, whether an opiate or some other injectable pain killer. 3,4,5,17
  Three researchers who reviewed much of the data on RU486 say "many of the women in these studies experienced pain for several days/weeks until the abortion was complete. Thus we are talking about prolonged, not transient pain, although this is rarely noted." ³
   
• NAUSEA, DIARRHEA, and VOMITING: Between 24% and 61% of RU486/PG patients experience nausea as part of the procedure. About one in five of all women struggle with diarrhea, while 15.3% - 26% or up to a quarter, vomit. ^3,5,17
   
• INFECTION: In one trial, as many as 5%, or 1 in 20, showed signs and symptoms of infection. 9 Fevers and chills, often indications of infection, are not unexpected side effects of the process.5 Antibiotics often must be prescribed for suspected infections. ¹⁰  If and when an RU486/PG abortion is unsuccessful (anywhere from 5% - 20% of the time ^{11, 12}), and there is an incomplete abortion, the risk of infection is much greater. ^{13, 14} Whatever supposed benefit chemical abortion has over surgical abortion is then lost when a woman undergoes the surgical procedure with its attendant risks.
   
• OTHER SIDE EFFECTS: Fatigue, ¹³ fainting, skin conditions, anemia, asthenia, hot flashes, heart palpitations, breast conditions, ⁵ mood changes, thirst. ¹⁴
   
• LONG TERM CONSEQUENCES: Unknown. Few independent studies. RU486 does cross the blood follicle barrier and get into a woman's ripening eggs. ³ Could this effect the reproductive systems of a woman's later children, as DES did?

Researchers regard heavy, prolonged bleeding as the chief problem and most serious side effect of chemical abortions. 3 The average blood loss from an RU486 abortion is reported to be 70ml, nearly four times the average blood loss from a normal suction curettage abortion ¹⁵ and very close to the 80ml menstrual blood loss level doctors consider Aabnormal.@ ¹⁶ This is hardly the Aheavy period@ spoken of by some of the pill=s promoters. ¹⁸

In a 1990 British study, five out of 579, or nearly 1%, bled so much they required both transfusions and curettage to stop the bleeding. 3 In U.S. trials with a new prostaglandin (misoprostol) that was supposed to resolve such problems, Aexcessive bleeding@ was noted in 4 out of 230 women who participated in the Des Moines part of the study. 12 What Aexcessive bleeding@ means is unclear, but we do know one of those women almost bled to death (see An Iowa Doctor Gives a First Hand Account below). Several women in the U.S. trial had to be given uterotonic agents to stop the bleeding.¹⁷

It is not merely the amount of blood lost but how long a woman bleeds that is a medical concern. Normally, the bleeding may last one or two weeks, but there are records of women bleeding as much as two months or more. ^3,5,17

There is additional concern because only about half of women who take RU486 actually abort at the doctor=s office, meaning 50% or more face their bleeding and aborting without medical supervision.¹⁷

There are over 1.3 million abortions performed in the U.S. each year. ⁷

We are told that 20-33% of abortions performed in France are chemical abortions. ^{8, 18}  

If U.S. use mirrored French use, and U.S. abortion rates remained stable, one could expect the following numbers of complications bases on current clinical data:

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NOTES: 1. Baulieu, the AAbortion Pill@ (1991); Baulieu, in Clinical Applications of Mifepristone...(1993); Lang, Vogue, August 1998. 2. Riding, NY Times, 4/10/91. 3. Raymond, et al, RU 486: Misconceptions (1991). 4. McKinley, Human Reproduction (1993), pp. 1502-5. 5. FDA, Mifepristone Hearings, 7/19/96. 6. French Government Letter, April 12, 1990. 7. Henshaw, AAbortion Services in the United States 1995-1996,@ Family Planning Perspectives, (Nov/Dec 1998) 8. Gianelli, American Medical News, 4/12/93. 9. Birth Control Trust, Confernece, 4/22/93. 10. WHO Study, Fertility & Sterility (1991) 11. Aubeny and Baulieu, C.R. Acad Sci. Paris (III), (1991), pp.539-545. 12. Jouzaitis, Chicago Tribune, 8/30/95. 13. Sitruk-Ware, Contraception (1990), pp. 221-243. 14. Li, Fertility & Sterility (1988), pp. 732-742. 15. Ob. Gyn News (1989), No. 24, p.1. 16. Speroff, Clinical Gynecological Endocrinology & Infertility, 3rd ed. (1983). 17. Spitz, NEJM, 4/30/98. 18. Population Council, Website, www.popcouncil.org, 1/98.