ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 12, 1996 TAG: 9609130024
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SEATTLE
SOURCE: Seattle Times
Planned Parenthood will begin offering nonsurgical abortions next month using a drug employed for years in cancer chemotherapy, the group's officials announced Wednesday.
The national Planned Parenthood organization has received permission from the federal Food and Drug Administration to use the injectable drug, methotrexate, in a trial involving about 3,000 women nationwide. The drug already has proved safe and effective in smaller-scale tests, a Planned Parenthood official said.
``It will increase access and it will increase choices for women having abortions who may not want a surgical procedure,'' said Chris Charbonneau, president of Planned Parenthood of Western Washington.
The drug, which stops cell division, would be given during the first month of pregnancy. If the fetus is not expelled in seven days, misoprostol, normally used to prevent gastric ulcers, would be administered to induce uterine contractions.
Methotrexate has long been used to fight a variety of cancers. In more recent years, it has also been used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and ectopic pregnancies, in which the fertilized ovum develops outside the uterus, as in a fallopian tube.
Charbonneau said Planned Parenthood officials asked the FDA for permission to use methotrexate because they anticipate the French abortion drug RU486 will be in short supply if approved this month.
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