New York Daily News Examines Growing Use of Misoprostol To End Pregnancy

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 13 Oct 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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The New York Daily News on Sunday examined the growing "notoriety" of the ulcer treatment drug misoprostol, which also is used in medical abortion procedures to induce uterine contractions. The drug -- by G.D. Searle and Pfizer and sold under the brand name Cytotec -- has become "well-known in poor, immigrant communities in New York and abroad as a cheap and private way to end" an unplanned pregnancy, according to the Daily News. An 800-microgram dose of misoprostol is 60% to 90% effective at ending a pregnancy when taken alone within the first seven weeks' gestation. The drug has been used legally for years in an FDA-approved regimen that includes mifepristone. "Drano [-- the drain clog remover --] is probably the one thing cheaper, but I wouldn't recommend it," New York State Right to Life Committee spokesperson Lori Kehoe said referring to the $1 cost of the pill, adding, "Regardless of price, the ultimate cost is one human life at least and possibly two." Jennifer Blum of Gynuity Health Projects, a New York not-for-profit that supports access to abortion, said, "Any time women are resorting to back-street, illegal abortions, it's never as safe as a procedure done under a doctor's supervision," but she added that while "[m]isoprostol is not an end-all solution, ... it's definitely the cheapest and easiest method" (Dillon, New York Daily News, 10/9).

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