Word: pill
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...less painful, carried less risk of infection and gave women greater control over the process than a surgical procedure. Over the next 3 1/ 2 years, 100,000 Frenchwomen used it successfully. Of those who made the decision early enough, about 85% chose RU 486 over surgery. (The pill is currently used in France only within seven weeks of the first day of a woman's last menstrual period; there is now talk of extending usage to a 10-week interval.) Almost all judged the method satisfactory...
...uses of RU 486 could extend well beyond dealing with some of the 37 million abortions carried out around the globe each year. European studies have shown that it is an effective morning-after pill, inducing less nausea or vomiting than other drugs used for the same purpose. There are also indications that RU 486 can combat endometriosis, a leading cause of female infertility, and fibroid tumors, a condition that often necessitates hysterectomy. Thus the same drug that can help some women end unwanted pregnancies may enable others to bear children. Assorted studies have found that RU 486 may also...
...When the pill does become available in America, abortion will not be as easy as going to the doctor and taking some of the tablets home -- at least not right away. In France, for instance, a woman is required to pay four visits over a three-week period to one of the country's 800 licensed clinics or hospitals. The first step is a gynecological exam. Doctors make sure the pregnancy is in its early stages, and a social worker or psychologist discusses with her the decision to abort. Then the woman is sent home for a weeklong "reflection" period...
Even with all these steps, the procedure seems blessedly simple to most women. "Taking a pill seems far less murderous and violent to the child than using a vacuum cleaner," says a 31-year-old woman who has had both types of abortion. "You feel so helpless when they put you to sleep and you know they're going to be using their tubes and knives on you." Some women, however, become traumatized by the thought of performing an abortion with their own hand. After her experience with RU 486, Joelle Mevel, 34, vows that if there is a next...
COVER: Here Comes the Abortion Pill...