NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/8621

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-20 | 6.1 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!dtix!darwin.sura.net!ukma!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
From: [e-mail] (Hank Roth)
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Subject: RU486: Facts from Planned Parenthood
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 21 Nov 92 06:52:57 GMT
Sender: [e-mail]
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Organization: NetLink Online Communications, San Diego CA
Lines: 120
Approved: [e-mail]
Originator: [e-mail]
Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu

<<< via P_news >>>
                    QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT RU 486
             FACTS from Planned Parenthood of New York City
           380 Second Avenue, New York, Ny 10010 212-777-2002


 WHAT IS RU 486?

A synthetic drug developed by the French pharmaceutical company
Groupe Roussel-Uclaf.  It is called a "progesterone antagonist"
because it blocks the activity of progesterone, one of the
principal sex hormones in women. By doing so, it can, among other
things, prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the walls of
the uterus.  When a woman takes RU 486 early in pregnancy, the
uterine lining breaks down, bringing on menstruation. The
pregnancy is aborted without surgery.

 HAS IT BEEN TESTED?

Since 1982, thousands of women in twenty countries -- 34,000 in
France alone -- have participated in clinical trials using RU 486
to end unwanted pregnancy. In the US, research on RU 486 as an
abortifacient has been supported solely though private funds
raised by the Population Council. But through the Center for
Population Research at the National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development, the US government has funded research on other
uses of RU 486 -- as a contraceptive, as a treatment for such
medical conditions as breast cancer and glaucoma, and as a tool
to study causes of infertility.  All these uses also look
promising.

 HOW EFFECTIVE IS IT IN TERMINATING PREGNANCY?

Used by itself, RU 486 is about 85% effective in the first two or
three weeks after a missed menstrual period. Its effectiveness
drops sharply after the seventh week of pregnancy, and the drug
is virtually ineffective after the eighth week. When RU 486 is
given along with a small dose of prostaglandin, the combination
has been about 95% effective. Prostaglandin causes uterine
contractions that can bring on abortion, but high doses are
needed for it to work alone, and this results in unacceptable
side effects. When prostaglandin is combined with RU 486, RU 486
sensitizes the uterus so that only a small dose of prostaglandin
is needed to produce contractions.

 HOW SAFE IS IT?

The only side effects reported by some women participating in
the clinical trials of RU 486 as an abortifacient were similar to
those of a spontaneous miscarriage -- some bleeding, a little
nausea, fatigue, uterine contractions. In an NIH study in which
lower doses of RU 486 were given, the women reported no side
effects at all. RU 486 may, in fact, be safer than surgical
abortion, since it is a noninvasive procedure and does not
require anesthesia. The implications are most dramatic for
developing nations, where sanitary conditions for performing
abortion are often not optimal. An estimated 150,000 deaths occur
worldwide each year from botched abortions, according to The New
York Times.

 WHAT'S HOLDING UP RESEARCH ON RU 486 IN THE UNISTED STATES?

In the US today, most pharmaceutical firms have given up on
research and development of new contraceptives. Daunted by the
time and money required to bring a drug to market (an average of
seven to ten years and an estimated $70 million per drug) and
concerned about product liability litigation and liability
insurance costs, they have held back. The anti-abortion movement
has contributed to this climate by attempting to block sales of
RU 486, calling for pickets, boycotts, and demonstrations against
any company willing to bring it to market.

On October 26, 1988 Roussel-Uclaf, the sole manufacturer of the
drug and holder of the patent, took the unprecedented action of
suspending distribution of RU 486, citing protests by anti-
abortion groups in the US, France, and West Germany. Two days
later, the French Minister of Health, Claude Evin, ordered the
company to resume distribution of RU 486 in the interests of
public health. Said Evin: "From the moment government approval
for the drug was granted, RU486 became the moral property of
women, not just the property of the drug company."  The news of
Evin's action was greeted by a burst of applause from hundreds of
doctors from all over the world who were gathered at that moment
for the World Congress of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Rio de
Janeiro.

In the US, the one remaining source for major funding of research
and development of a drug like RU 486 is the federal government.
Unfortunately, the federal government now spends less on
contraceptive research in a single year than the Defense
Department spends in 15 minutes. Although right-to-lifers claim
otherwise, there are at present no restrictions on funding for
research on drugs that prevent implantation of a fertilized egg
or that induce abortion. Nevertheless Hyde and Hyde-like
restrictions have had a chilling effect on such research at NIH.

 WHAT IF A BLACK MARKET DEVELOPS?

RU 486 has the capacity to give women tremendous freedom and ease
in controlling their reproductive lives. Now that the drug is
available in other countries, there is concern that demand for
the drug could create a black market. This would be tragic, since
medically unsupervised use could be harmful.

*********************************************
Send COMMENTS and additional articles for posting
on P_news and p.news to: [e-mail].
Also seeking volunteers to type articles from
various *LEFT* wing magazines and journals and
e-mail to me for posting to both conferences and
MAP.
***********************************************




--
INTERNET:  [e-mail] (Hank Roth)
UUCP:   ...!ryptyde!netlink!odin
NetLink Online Communications * Public Access in San Diego, CA [phone]