The New Drug Application for licensing was filed by the Population Council following the transfer of patent rights for the compound from the mifepristone's European developer. Mifepristone is available in France, Sweden, China, and the United Kingdom and has been used by over 200,000 women worldwide. During the day-long hearing under tight security in Gaithersburg, Maryland, abortion rights advocates said mifepristone was a necessary alternative to surgical abortion in a country where abortion clinic violence is still a threat and where many women live hours away from the nearest abortion provider. At the hearing, Eleanor Smeal testified on behalf of the Feminist Majority Foundation, which for the past eight years has led a nationwide public education campaign to bring mifepristone to the United States. Smeal stressed that the unanimous support for mifepristone approval from the feminist and scientific community indicates what a medical breakthrough this drug is for women as a method of early abortion and a possible treatment for a wide range of other serious diseases and conditions that affect primarily women.
Mifepristone allows for greater privacy and access to abortion.
When taken within the first seven weeks of pregnancy, the drug has been found to be 95.5 percent effective. Approximately 650,000 of the 1.3 million abortions performed annually in the U.S. are already performed within the first seven weeks, according to Advances in Health Technology president Dr. Susan Allen. The FDA expects to decide on approval by mid-September. Lautenberg s proposal would include misdemeanors of domestic violence in the ban. Republicans oppose such a move because of opposition from the National Rifle Association.