THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 31, 1995 TAG: 9508310434
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
Doctors can quickly and safely induce abortions at home with a combination of two drugs on the market for other uses, researchers reported in a study that could pre-empt the political debate over whether to make the French abortion pill available in the U.S.
The two-drug combination may be as effective as the French abortion pill, RU-486, which is undergoing testing in this country. The two kinds of drug-induced abortion have not been compared directly, and neither is likely to work as well as surgical abortion.
A small study published last October in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed the potential of the two-drug combination. Now a much larger study in this week's New England Journal of Medicine demonstrates its safety and effectiveness.
``This is an exciting phenomenon because it will provide yet another choice for women,'' said Dr. Richard U. Hausknecht, who conducted the latest study. ``Since there is a paucity of health care providers providing abortions in some parts of the United States, this may have a significant impact.''
Abortion opponents fiercely oppose introduction of RU-486 and have threatened a boycott of any pharmaceutical company that manufactures it.
But the new finding may make the debate moot. If commonly available drugs with other healing properties can be used for abortions, then anti-abortion groups may have a difficult time keeping track of doctors and clinics that offer the procedures.
Hausknecht, a gynecologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, tested the new approach on women in their first nine weeks of pregnancy. It involves a combination of methotrexate, a widely used cancer drug, and misoprostol, an ulcer medicine. Methotrexate destabilizes the uterine lining, and misoprostol triggers contractions that expel the fetus.
The combination induced abortions in 171 of 178 pregnant volunteers, or 96 percent. Other studies show that RU-486 is about 95 percent effective.
Any doctor can legally prescribe the new combination for abortion, even though the medicines have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for this purpose. by CNB