Abortion pill step in right direction

The Food and Drug Administration finally approved the use of the abortion pill RU-486 in the United States last Thursday. Mifepristone, as it is known by its chemical name, gives women the choice of a chemical abortion opposed to a surgical one.\nIt can only be used within 49 days of the woman's last menstrual period.\nThe pill is expected to transform the abortion experience for millions of American women. Instead of facing the potentially hostile environment outside a clinic, women can abort their pregnancies more discreetly and earlier. \nAs one U.S. user of the pill explained to The Washington Post, she felt women should have the right to choose a medical abortion.\nThe user, Amy, a 36-year-old mother whose last name was withheld, also said, "It felt morally right. I think all women should have the same option."\nThe battle to bring RU-486 to the United States took 12 years. Former President George Bush banned the pill from being brought here in 1989. \nPresident Bill Clinton, and vice president Al Gore, have fought seven hard years to give women the choice. It has already been used by women in 13 countries -- including France and Great Britain. \nA woman taking the pill would make three visits to the clinic: one to receive a pregnancy test, counseling and three mifepristone pills (which thin the uterine lining so an embryo cannot grow). \nTwo days later, she returns to take a second drug, which causes cramping and bleeding as the embryo is expelled -- comparable to a miscarriage. \nTwo weeks later, the woman returns for a checkup to make sure the pill did its job.\nFDA Commissioner Jane Henney told Salon.com that the pill is 92 percent to 95 percent effective in causing abortion by blocking action of a hormone essential to maintaining pregnancy. Abortion providers say that the pill will cost the same as a surgical abortion.\nTaking a pill doesn't mean the process won't be painful. Heavy bleeding, besides serious cramping, is one of the potentially serious side effects the FDA warns about. \nIn a safety testing of the first 2,100 American women who took Mifepristone, four bled enough to need a transfusion, according to the FDA. In long-term studies, only 1 percent of women had this problem.\nAmy said the abortion was more painful than she expected. She had two to three hours of intense menstrual-like cramping as the fetus was being expelled. But, as she told The Washington Post, she is convinced that she made the right choice.\n"I felt like I was carrying it out myself. It probably was more uncomfortable (than a surgical abortion), but then someone else is doing that to me, and I didn't want that." \nShe is one of the 95 percent of U.S. women who used the drug in trials who would recommend it to others. \nIn the past year, the National Abortion Federation trained 1,800 doctors, nurses and clinic counselors nationwide in the use of the pill.\nPlanned Parenthood of Greater Indiana said it plans to distribute the pill to Bloomington soon. Women will have a greater sense of control over their abortion.\nUnder a certified doctor's strict supervision, a woman can take the medication in her own home, according to Salon.com. \nThis will "turn the tide against anti-choice intimidation," said Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt to Salon.com. Doctors not offering surgical abortions can use the pill in private offices instead of protester-targeted clinics. \nMaybe now the pro-life activists will get a life.\nRepublican presidential nominee George W. Bush called the FDA decision "wrong," fearing that the pill "will make abortions more and more common." Health experts in Europe said abortions did not increase after the drug was introduced.\nA Bush spokesman told Salon.com that a president cannot order drugs off the market, but if elected, Bush will appoint an FDA commissioner who would not have made this mistake.\nLike father, like son.\nGore supported the approval of the abortion pill, saying the decision was "not about politics, but the health and safety of American women and a woman's fundamental right to choose."\nI know whom I'll be voting for next month. \nIn this country, it's a woman's choice.