The woman returns to the doctor a third time about 12 days after getting the drugs to be sure the pregnancy has ended. Mifeprex, known generically as mifepristone is provided directly to doctors' offices or clinics and will not be available through pharmacies. Studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine and Archives of Family Medicine in 1998 show the pill is 92 percent effective in terminating pregnancies up to 49 days in duration, or within the first seven weeks of pregnancy. If the procedure fails, the woman has a surgical abortion. Ninety-five percent of the women in the U.S. studies of the drug said they would recommend the pill regimen to others.
Mifepristone gives women another option.
But that's not true for all women. In France for example, about half the women choose the pill and the other half choose to have a surgical procedure. The drug was developed by the pharmaceutical firm Roussel-Uclaf. In 1991 RU-486 was approved for use in Britain and in 1992 it was approved for use in Sweden. It is estimated that approximately 500,000 women in Europe have had medical abortions using the pill.