RU-486: THE ABORTION BATTLE’S NEW FRONTIER : A Woman’s Experience With the Abortion Pill
She was one of the last women in the United States to take RU-486, the French abortion pill. Five weeks pregnant, and having had twins born just 11 months before, she eagerly swallowed three M & M-sized tablets early this year at the only North American site for RU-486 abortion research: Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center’s Women’s Hospital.
Her decision was based almost completely on fear.
“I was terrified of a surgical abortion. I’ve been around hospitals, and I know the chances for infection. I was also terrified of keeping the kid,” explained the young, healthy Los Angeles resident, who agreed to disclose the details of her chemical abortion on the condition that her name not be revealed.
A professional woman married to an artist, she recalled hearing about RU-486 being tested in the United States. With a few phone calls, she found out the drug was available 10 minutes from her home near downtown Los Angeles.
She wasted no time in phoning “2K1”--the floor and room number by which the Women’s Hospital family-planning research center is known around the world--and got an appointment for the next day. Once inside the tiny, no-frills clinic, she easily passed the initial screening: * She was less than 42 days pregnant.
* She wasn’t anemic, diabetic or suffering from liver or kidney problems.
* She was well within the 150-pound weight limitation.
* She had not been to the clinic for RU-486 abortions before. (Women who have had RU-486 abortions twice through the study have been excluded from further participation. Maria Lacarra, the nurse who supervises the clinic for her boss, Dr. Daniel Mishell, instituted the rule to avoid promoting use of RU-486 as a means of birth control. In a post-abortion visit, each research participant was given the contraceptive of her choice and taught how to use it.)
After the woman signed a consent document, the preliminary tests began. “They do an immediate vaginal ultrasound to see what’s in there. They do blood and urine tests. And they take a lot of pains to be really helpful,” she recalled.
She was given literature about the procedure, including a report stating that the FDA had reviewed the drug’s toxicology and found it to be safe for human testing. She was asked to come back the next day to take RU-486 in the presence of a nurse. The pills were never sent home with patients.
“I came back the next morning at 8 and took three little pills,” said the young mother, noting that at the time she was 37 or 38 days into what seemed to be an easy pregnancy, at least one with no morning sickness.
“I went in for the pills on Tuesday. On Thursday, I started bleeding, little spots. Friday morning, I went back for the shot of prostaglandin, which helps to expel the fetal matter. They make you wait half an hour after the shot before you can leave. And they tell you to get someone to drive you home. My husband drove me home. After I got home, I started cramping. It was really minor cramping. And to my amazement, it only lasted two hours.
“That day, I aborted. The matter came out on two sanitary napkins. You couldn’t really tell if it was fetal tissue. It just looked like a heavy menstrual period. I bled for a total of 10 days. I had so little pain--only two hours of pain in the whole thing. But I was also dizzy for several days. I felt like my head was encased in cotton balls and I was very sleepy.”
Her verdict: “Physically, taking the pills was a dream. But emotionally, I was very angry. I was crying. I had weeping fits. Sometimes I’d just look at my kids. My husband was depressed about it, too. He loves kids. His way of dealing with it was not talking about it. But he supported my decision 100% and thought it was great I was participating in the research.
“I spoke to two or three women there who had taken RU-486, and they all said the same thing: It’s real easy on your body. The hard part is the emotional part.”
Neither the woman nor her husband have had second thoughts about the safety of a steroid-induced abortion--or the possibility that side effects not discovered by research might show up later.
“It’s an appealing drug,” she said. “The question of long-term side effects doesn’t even come up because the drug is the type of thing that gets excreted right away.”
She even appreciated parts of the process others are quick to criticize: the notion of serving as a human guinea pig and being treated at a facility notoriously lacking in creature comforts.
“Being a part of a research trial made it much more of a satisfying experience,” she said. “I felt great going to that hospital. The first day I went there, the woman who took my blood was like a stand-up comedian. It helped me relax. The atmosphere was very supportive.”
PUTTING PILL TO TEST
WHO: Nearly 400 women up to seven weeks pregnant.
WHAT: RU-486 proved effective in up to 90% of the cases. Worst side effect was bleeding in case of an incomplete miscarriage.
WHEN: July 1984 to Feb. 1990.
WHY: To study the safety and effectiveness of RU-486 as an abortion drug. The latest findings show that the heavier the woman taking RU-486, the less effectively the drug performs.
