Controversial Abortion Pill RU-486 to Be Shipped Soon

The controversial abortion pill RU-486 will be shipped to hundreds of health clinics within days, making it widely available to American women for the first time after more than a decade of conflict and delay.

The first batches of the abortion pill will go to clinics and health centers that already provide surgical abortions, according to Danco Laboratories LLC of New York, the drug’s producer.

But the company, as well as abortion rights advocates such as Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the National Abortion Federation, said they are planning campaigns to recruit and train more health workers and doctors in private practice to use RU-486.

“We expect the majority of users right now will be current abortion providers,” Danco spokeswoman Heather O’Neill said. “But we’ve also gotten numerous calls from private practitioners and health care providers that do not provide abortion services now.”

While the Food and Drug Administration’s September decision to approve RU-486 ended one phase of a contentious battle, activists on both sides agree that an equally important contest has already begun to persuade doctors to either accept or reject the abortion pill, which is also known as mifepristone and Mifeprex.

Activists on both sides of the debate say the pill could revolutionize the struggle over abortion in this country by allowing women to get abortions in many more individual doctors’ offices and clinics, making abortion much more widely available and private. But it remains to be seen how many doctors will agree to offer it.

“We are saddened to learn that RU-486 will soon be in the marketplace,” said Laura Echevarria, spokeswoman for the National Right to Life Committee. “We believe that many doctors are not going to be comfortable offering RU-486 because it will be a logistical nightmare, because they are opposed to abortion or because they believe it will pose a public relations problem for them in both the medical community and among patients.”

She said her group and others are planning a national educational campaign, “telling women this drug isn’t safe for them.”

The abortion pill was approved by the FDA as safe and effective for women up to 49 days into a pregnancy. It blocks a hormone necessary for a pregnancy. Women cannot purchase the drug themselves but rather must rely on doctors to order it for them directly from Danco.