She would not have to wend her way through pro-life pickets at the abortion clinic. She would not have to endure their pleas to spare her child's life or their pictures of unborn children. He knew progesterone is needed to sustain an early pregnancy. All Baulieu had to do was find a chemical mechanism that would prevent the pregnant woman's body from producing this progesterone support. RU-486 is the result.
Few companies are willing to risk the wrath of the pro-life movement.
Even though the non-profit Population Council was chosen by the FDA to find a manufacturer, conduct tests, and eventually bring the drug to U.S. shores, the parent company has yet to sign a contract. They fear a pro-life boycott of their American subsidiary, Hoeschst Celanese. In the first half of a woman's ovulatory cycle, the hormone estrogen is secreted by the ripening egg, causing the wall of the uterus to prepare for possible pregnancy. The cells of the follicule left behind form the corpus luteum, which secretes progesterone. Progesterone, another hormone, also prepares the womb for pregnancy.