Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 2, 1994 TAG: 9406020058
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The pill could be licensed for sale in the United States within two years.
The manufacturer, Roussel Uclaf, under pressure from the Clinton administration, last month donated its patents for RU-486 to a nonprofit organization rather than sell the drug here itself.
The Population Council will test RU-486 on 2,000 U.S. women this fall and hire a U.S. manufacturer.
Even though Roussel Uclaf won't sell RU-486, a coalition of anti-abortion groups vowed Wednesday to punish the company for its donation - and its parent, Hoechst AG of Germany, and two U.S. subsidiaries, drug maker Hoechst Roussel and chemical giant Hoechst Celanese.
"They cannot escape the moral responsibility for what will ensue," said National Right to Life Committee President Wanda Franz. "What RU-486 will bring us is serial killing by abortion, on a massive scale with the full encouragement and support of President Clinton and his pro-abortion administration."
The coalition hasn't decided yet which products to boycott. The four companies sell everything from prescription medicines and polyester to bulk chemicals that U.S. firms use to make such products as detergents.
They will unveil a product list within weeks that Southern Baptist Convention officer James Smith said would be broadcast by "pastors who will, yes, stand up in the pulpits to say these companies are responsible for bringing the death pill to America."
The donation agreement is complete, so the boycott serves no purpose, said Roussel Uclaf spokeswoman Catherine Euvrard. But she couldn't say how much a boycott would hurt.
"They would be better served to take their concerns to the U.S. government, which sought to have the product tested here," added Andrea Stine, spokeswoman for Hoechst Celanese in New Jersey.
But abortion opponents also hope to dissuade U.S. companies from selling RU-486.
If approved, RU-486 would be an alternative to the 1.6 million surgical abortions performed each year. The drug blocks development of a hormone essential for maintaining pregnancy. Two days after taking RU-486, a woman takes another hormone, prostaglandin, that causes contractions to expel the embryo.
by CNB