The importation of RU-486 was officially prohibited in 1990 when the FDA released an alert on the drug, claiming that it posed serious dangers to women s health. However, the FDA alert was unfounded and shortsighted. RU-486, also know as mifepristone, has been proven safe and effective in France and countries throughout Europe. According to testimony given by Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority, before the FDA in 1996, mifepristone is a safe, effective method of early abortion. Since physicians generally do not perform vacuum aspiration abortions until the seventh week of pregnancy or later, mifepristone is the only method of early abortion a woman can seek as soon as she knows that she is pregnant.
Mifepristone gives women greater control over the termination of their pregnancies.
The mifepristone procedure is non-invasive, does not require anesthesia, and has no risk of infection. Research in France has shown that mifepristone has other positive uses. New research has found mifepristone may inhibit the proliferation of ovarian cancer cells. Other trials have found that mifepristone may be used to treat endometriosis and fibroid tumors. The list of possible uses of mifepristone is quite extensive.