Clinics to Offer Drug-Induced Abortions

Planned Parenthood Federation of America will begin offering a drug-induced form of abortion later this month at many clinics across the country.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a Planned Parenthood study of the two-drug abortion method, and the federation said Wednesday that it hopes to persuade the FDA to pronounce the combination safe and effective.

Seventeen of Planned Parenthood’s 150 affiliates, including San Diego and Concord, Calif., will participate initially in the study. As many as 45 affiliates may sign on by early next year, officials said.

With the drug-induced method, which costs $250 to $350, a woman who is no more than seven weeks’ pregnant is injected with methotrexate, which stops development of the placenta and embryo.

Four to seven days later, misoprostol tablets are inserted into her vagina, causing the uterus to contract and expel the fetus. The tablets may take two weeks or more to work.

The two drugs have long been approved by the FDA for other uses: methotrexate to treat cancer, arthritis and psoriasis, and misoprostol as an ulcer medicine. A growing number of doctors already use them to induce abortions, but some may be reluctant to do so for insurance and liability reasons.