In 2000, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved mifepristone (also called medical abortion, medication abortion, non-surgical abortion, or RU 486), giving women another early option to terminate an unintended pregnancy.

 

Mifepristone (marketed in the U.S. under the brand name Mifeprex), is a synthetic steroid compound that can be used during the first nine weeks to interrupt the development of a pregnancy.

 

Non-surgical abortion has been available in Europe for nearly two decades. France was the first country to approve mifepristone in September 1988 after the French Health Ministry put pressure on manufacturers to make the product available – calling it the “moral property” of women. In 1991, the United Kingdom and China approved it, with Sweden following in 1992. Today, mifepristone is licensed for use in more than 20 countries.

 

For many years, this important reproductive health option was not available to women in the United States, largely due to anti-choice politics. In 1983, researchers began examining the drug in the United States, but in 1989, the Bush Administration refused to allow the product for clinical use in the United States. President Clinton reversed the ban in 1993, but it took seven more years for the FDA to approve it.

 

Since then, anti-choice lawmakers have been moving to block access to this early abortion option. At both the federal and state levels, lawmakers have proposed legislation designed to curtail the availability of mifepristone and to limit the number of doctors who can offer these services. Such legislation would destroy the promise of this important medical treatment and reverse the progress that has been made to improve reproductive options for women across the nation.

 

Mifepristone should not be confused with Plan B emergency contraception (also known as the "morning-after" pill), which is a method of birth control that prevents pregnancy for up to 5 days after sexual intercourse.

 

 

Mifepristone blocks the action of progesterone, a hormone needed to sustain a pregnancy. In the United States, mifepristone is used in combination with another medication, a synthetic prostaglandin called Misoprostol. Misoprostol causes the uterus to contract, and helps to expel the pregnancy tissue. In combination with Misoprostol, mifepristone is 95-98% effective in ending an early pregnancy; incomplete terminations are treated with surgical abortion. The current FDA-approved regimen is administered in a clinic or doctor’s office and the drug is tightly regulated.

 

The drug may also be effective for the treatment of other health conditions, including breast and ovarian cancers, HIV, endometriosis, fibroid tumors, meningiomas, and Cushing’s Syndrome. Research shows it is also an effective method of emergency contraception.