| New Attack on Abortion Pill | |
|
The abortion pill - RU-486, approved last year by the FDA, now faces the challenge of conservative Republicans in Congress who have re-introduced legislation limiting doctors' ability to prescribe the drug.
FDA approval of RU-486 (mifepristone and misoprostol - brand name Mifeprex) took 12 years filled with political warfare waged between women's rights groups in support of the drug and abortion opponents who declared it immoral and dangerous.
The
bill, S. 251,
RU-486 Patient Health and Safety Protection Act, introduced on Feb. 6, 2001 by Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Arizona and Rep. David Vitter,
R-Louisiana, physicians would be required to meet the following requirements in
order to prescribe RU-486:
(1) The physician is qualified to handle complications resulting from an
incomplete abortion or ectopic
pregnancy.
(2) The physician has been trained to perform surgical abortions and has met
all applicable legal requirements to perform such abortions.
Under current FDA rules, an RU-486 provider need only have an established
plan for arranging a surgical abortion should the RU-486 induced abortion be
incomplete.
(3) The physician is certified for ultrasound dating of pregnancy and
detecting ectopic pregnancy.
Current law requires only that RU-486 providers be able to
determine the woman's stage of pregnancy, they are not required to perform or be
able to interpret sonograms.
(4) The physician has completed a program regarding the prescribing of such
drug that uses a curriculum approved by the Secretary.
(5) The physician has admitting privileges at a hospital to which the
physician can travel in one hour or less, determined on the basis of
starting at the principal medical office of the physician and traveling to
the hospital, using the transportation means normally used by the physician
to travel to the hospital, and under the average conditions of travel for
the physician.
The same bill was offered by Sen. Hutchinson last year, but faced with
opposition by the Clinton Administration, failed to be voted out of the Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and never came before the
full Senate.
Despite picking up the probable support of President Bush, the
RU-486 Patient Health and Safety Protection Act is still expected to face tough
opposition from pro-choice Members of Congress. Next page > A
new Battle on RU-486? > Page 1, 2
