Controversial abortion drug coming to Bloomington
Planned Parenthood in Bloomington will be one of the first Planned Parenthood clinics in Indiana to carry RU-486, or mifepristone, the new abortion pill recently approved by the FDA.\nSylvia Johnson, media coordinator for Planned Parenthood of Greater Indiana, said Planned Parenthood is not sure the exact date when the drug will become available, but that it will offer mifepristone as soon as it is on the market.\n"It will be implemented nationwide, but within Indiana it will be in Bloomington and Indianapolis first because those two locations have medical and surgical staffs that already have expertise within the field of medical abortion," Johnson said.\nMifepristone can be used in the first 49 days of pregnancy to cause an abortion. The pill works by blocking the hormone progesterone, which is necessary for the fetus to develop. Without progesterone the uterus will return to its pre-pregnancy state and cause a miscarriage.\nThe pill has been sold in France for 10 years and is 95 percent effective in causing abortions.\nIU Students for Life President Shannon Goings said she was disappointed by the FDA's approval of the drug.\n"I think it's going to be seen as something that is even easier than (surgical abortion) and I think it will place less responsibility on women to raise their children," Goings said.\nBut Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Gloria Feldt applauded the FDA's decision.\n"Reproductive health care is an essential part of basic women's health care," Feldt said in a press release. "American women will finally have access to the same reproductive health care options that our sisters in Europe have had for all these years and that is simple justice"