Medical Abortion Debate Continues As 10-Year Anniversary Approaches

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 28 Sep 2010 - 5:00 PDT


Nearly 10 years after FDA granted it approval, the debate surrounding the abortion medication mifepristone continues to be divisive, the AP/New York Times reports. The medication -- originally known as RU-486 and now marketed as Mifeprex -- was approved by FDA on Sept. 28, 2000. Since then, it has been used by nearly 1.4 million U.S. women and accounts for about 25% of U.S. abortions performed within in the first nine weeks of pregnancy. According to the AP/Times, about 184,000 U.S. women used the drug in 2008, an increase from 55,000 in 2001, despite a stagnant abortion rate.

Women undergoing a non-surgical abortion first swallow one pill containing mifepristone, followed two days later by a second pill containing misoprostol. Danco Laboratories, which manufactures Mifeprex, says the procedure is effective about 95% of the time. The procedure, which works during the first nine weeks of pregnancy, expands access to abortion options. National Abortion Federation President Vicki Saporta said, "While abortion is safe anyway, the earlier it's done, the safer it is."

Medical abortion also allows women to undergo the procedure in private, avoiding a surgical procedure at an abortion clinic that might be targeted by protesters, according to David Grimes, a North Carolina-based ob-gyn, who had headed the abortion surveillance branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "I just don't see any downsides," Grimes said, adding, "For those women who don't like the invasiveness of surgery, it gives them a very important option."

The procedure also has increased access to abortion care for many women, the Times reports. According to Vanessa Cullins, vice president for medical affairs at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the group offered surgical abortions at 151 clinics in 2000. Now, it offers abortion care at 322 centers, nearly half of which are relatively small clinics that provide only medical abortion care.

Telemedicine Option Expands Access

As part of an effort to continue expanding access to medical abortion, 16 Iowa clinics are participating in Planned Parenthood of the Heartland's telemedicine program, which allows a doctor to prescribe Mifeprex and dispense it remotely. Women seeking the procedure first receive an ultrasound from a nurse and then communicate with a doctor through a secure Internet connection. The doctor, who is also provided with the woman's medical records, can then prescribe Mifeprex and remotely unlock a container to provide the medication.

"There are many affiliates that are carefully considering this option, within the confines of their state laws," Cullins said. However, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland CEO Jill June added, "There are states that have passed laws that make accessing abortion virtually impossible, and they will try to curtail the use of telemedicine."

Abortion-rights opponents in Iowa argue that the program violates state medical standards and presents a safety risk by not requiring women to have a face-to-face meeting with a doctor. Opponents have asked the Iowa Board of Medicine to block the program. The board has formed a review committee but has not indicated when it might rule, the AP/Times reports.

According to June, abortion-rights opponents view telemedicine as a particular threat because it would increase access to the procedure. However, "the genie is out of the bottle -- technology marches on, regardless of the ways we human beings accept it or reject it," June said, adding that those who oppose abortion rights "really have no case to be made that it's bad medicine, or bad for women. They're fighting against the tide" (AP/New York Times, 9/27).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

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