Abortion Pill Controversy Hits Senate : Passage of RU-486 resolution is in the interests of medical science and women

The debate over abortion in this country has been described as the politics of symbolism. The symbols invoked are powerful and jarring: aborted fetuses, bloody coat hangers and chanting protesters who block public access to medical clinics.

Mindful not only of the power of symbols to effect change in this escalating debate but also of the power of medical science to improve lives, the state Assembly last week approved a resolution urging that research on the French abortion pill, RU-486, be conducted in California. Authored by Assemblywoman Jackie Speier (D-South San Francisco), the resolution is similar to one adopted by the New Hampshire Legislature in May. The Appropriations Committee of the California Senate is expected to take up the Speier measure, possibly today. We urge passage.

Developed by the French pharmaceutical firm Roussel-Uclaf, RU-486 appears to be safer and less painful than surgical abortions. It is approved as an abortifacient in Britain and France; in France it has been used on as many as 100,000 women. The drug has also shown great promise in treating some forms of cancer, Cushing’s syndrome and other serious diseases.

But despite its potential, RU-486 has become a casualty--and yet another powerful symbol--in the fractious abortion war. Foes fear that the drug will make abortion too easy and painless. Responding to these fears, the Bush Administration in effect halted testing of the drug in 1989 by banning its importation for personal use.

In France, Roussel-Uclaf took this action as a signal of official U.S. policy on abortion and now refuses to make RU-486 available for research by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Assemblywoman Speier hopes that her resolution, which urges the President to lift the “import alert” on the drug and encourages Roussel-Uclaf to undertake research in California, will send a strong, countervailing signal.

But in the meantime, the right of choice is increasingly constricted. Last week, as the California Assembly passed Speier’s important resolution, Ohio Gov. George V. Voinovich signed a bill mandating a 24-hour wait for abortions during which women must be given material explaining fetal development and listing alternatives to abortion. Once again, government seeks to intrude on a woman’s right to make such a deeply personal and difficult decision.