10/16/00 1:05 p.m.
Aborting the Abortion Pill
Using a drug for all the wrong reasons.

By Kathryn Jean Lopez, NR associate editor------------lopezk@ix.netcom.com

ith the Food and Drug Administration's recent approval of RU-486 for use in the United States to end pregnancies, the only hope for keeping the pill out of pregnant women's hands comes from a very unlikely source: a drug manufacturer.

Searle Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of the "step 2" pill that must be taken with RU-486 to complete the abortion process, is cautioning doctors against prescribing their pill for abortions.

Searle's Misoprostol, an ulcer drug, must be taken to expel a dead baby after Mifepristone, the pill popularly known as RU-486, stops the placenta from growing. Over a month before the FDA approved RU-486 for abortion, Searle issued a letter warning that Misoprostol "is not approved for the induction of labor or abortion."

In its letter, Searle cautions that "Serious adverse events reported following off-label use of Cytotec in pregnant women include maternal or fetal death; uterine hyperstimulation, rupture or perforation requiring uterine surgical repair, hysterectomy or salpingo-oophorectomy; amniotic fluid embolism; severe vaginal bleeding, retained placenta, shock, fetal bradycardia and pelvic pain."

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists quickly followed up with a letter of their own, arguing that if doctors choose to listen to Searle, the effect would be to "cripple the use of RU-486."

Dr. Charles Lockwood, chair of the committee on obstetrics at ACOG dismisses Searle's concerns, telling FoxNews.com on Friday that Searle has simply been placed in a hot spot, having "created a wonderful ulcer drug, and that was all they wanted." Unfortunately for them, it has an alternative use.

Ever since the FDA's approval of RU-486 in late September, all eyes have been on conservatives, who are expected to make moves to limit women's health "choices" by applying parental notification laws to the drug (as some states have already decided to do), and to restrict prescribing power to physicians who perform surgical abortions (as a bill introduced by Rep. Tom Coburn in the House and Sen. Tim Hutchinson in the Senate would do).

The real choices, however, are being made by the Clinton administration's FDA, which has dowplayed the concerns of Searle and has hidden the fact that the drug will be imported from a factory in Communist China.

Contrary to the rhetoric, this is not about women's health. And, there's no such thing as safe, legal, and rare. Women's health — never mind the health and rights of the unborn — take a backseat to the unqualified right to an abortion, any time, any place, and at any age.