Controversial Abortion Pill to Get First U.S. Clinical Trials in Oregon

The French abortion pill, which had been banned in the United States, will get its first U.S. clinical trials in Oregon, officials said Friday.

“This is a giant step forward in the march for better health care for women,” said Rep. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), whose House subcommittee held hearings on RU-486.

But Lynda Harrington, executive director of Oregon Right to Life, said: “It’s appalling that Wyden would offer up the women of Oregon as guinea pigs for this highly dangerous drug. It’s dangerous to women and deadly to unborn children.”

The New York-based Population Council will test 2,000 women in trials at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland and at other locations, spokeswoman Sandra Waldman said. The other sites were not disclosed.

The council will test the drug and find a producer for the U.S. market under an agreement with the Food and Drug Administration and Roussel Uclaf, the drug’s producer, Waldman said.

The drug would replace surgical abortions performed early in a woman’s pregnancy. It causes the uterus to shed its lining with the fertilized embryo.

It has been 96% successful in ending pregnancies among the 120,000 women who have used it in France, Britain and Sweden.

Abortion opponents have fought to keep RU-486 out of this country, objecting to it just as much as surgical abortion.

The George Bush Administration banned imports even for research, but the Clinton Administration has made it clear that it supports legalization of RU-486.

Waldman said the drug could be available commercially in this country in as little as two years.