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This week, the Food and Drug Administration is ground zero in the American debate over abortion. The administration faces a Friday deadline to determine whether the so-called "French abortion pill," or RU-486, should be marketed in the United States. The drug, which is actually two separate pills taken under a physician's supervision over the course of two days, has been proven extremely effective in ending pregnancies up to the 50th day following conception. The drug is very different from the "morning-after pill," or emergency contraceptive, which is administered in the 24 hours following intercourse...
...that stands in between American women and non-surgical abortion is the FDA's stamp of approval. And the agency, which has been hemming and hawing over final approval for RU-486 for almost four years, is under enormous pressure - from both the medical and political worlds. Anti-abortion activists are predictably opposed to the pill, while abortion rights groups argue RU-486 offers women a more private, less invasive and ultimately safer way to terminate unwanted pregnancies...
...RU-486, also known as mifepristone, is widely used in much of the world, and is prized for being both discreet - allowing women to induce abortions (largely without complications) in their own homes within 50 days of conception - and democratic, providing the possibility of abortion to women living in areas without doctors willing to perform the surgical procedure. But according to the drug's supporters, those very attributes will be effectively negated by the restrictions currently under consideration by the FDA; the rules include allowing only doctors trained to perform surgical abortions to prescribe the drug, a requirement that those...
...RU-486, the road to the American marketplace has been long, winding and more than a little bit bumpy. More than a medical breakthrough, the pill is also a flash point for political dissension: The efficacy of the pill is a boon to women's health care advocates, who see RU-486 as a much-needed, less invasive alternative to surgical abortions. Abortion opponents, of course, view the pill's potency with alarm, and have urged the FDA to withhold approval of the drug...
...place, forced to deal not only with a new medical advancement but with its political fallout as well. "With a drug like this, it's nearly impossible to separate the political from the scientific," says TIME medical contributor Dr. Ian Smith. But while many of the medical issues surrounding RU-486 may be rooted in a political distaste for the pill's purpose, Smith says there are still some genuine medical concerns that the FDA is correct in addressing. "There are legitimate medical questions here that we will have to watch carefully as the drug is used," he says...