The Use of Mifepristone to Terminate a Pregnancy The medication "mifepristone" was invented in France by Dr. Etienne-Emile Baulieu in 1980. It is widely know as "RU-486" throughout North America. The letters is taken from the initials of the pharmaceutical company Roussel-Uclaf. The "486" is an arbitrary lab serial number. 1 It was first introduced in France, where it is called Mifegyne. ® It has been used, in combination with prostaglandin medication, to induce abortions in about 500,000 women over almost 2 decades. Over the last fifteen years, dozens of clinical studies on RU-486 have been conducted with thousands of women in over 20 countries, including France, Britain, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the U.S., Scandinavia, and the former Soviet Union. 11 In 1999, mifespristone was approved for marketing in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, the Netherlands and Spain. 15 Danco Laboratories, the U.S. distributor expected to be selling the pill in that country by the end of 1999. 11 That did not happen; FDA finally approved the pill for U.S. distribution on 2000-SEP-28. It will be distributed under the name "Early Option Pill." Regulation Difficulties: In late 1988, Roussel-Uclaf started distribution of the drug in France. But they withdrew it after some of its personnel had received death threats. The French government forced the company to return RU-486 to the market. Claude Evin, the French health minister called "RU-486 the moral property of women, not just the property of the drug company." Pro-life pressure on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration caused them to ban the importation of RU-486 into the United States until 1993. Boycotts were organized against Roussel-Uclaf, ... ... middle of paper ... ...he Population Council, 2000-MAY-25. Their web site is at: *http://www.popcouncil.org* Dave Clark, "FDA could offer RU-486 restrictions," Focus on the Family, at:*http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/A0011782.html* "FDA approves abortion pill in United States," MSNBC, 2000-SEP-28, at: *http://www.msnbc.com/news/467301.asp* Tom Curry, "FDA decision has political impact," *http://www.msnbc.com/news/469014.asp* S. Boyd, "Give us liberty: The approval of RU-486 isn't about morals, it's about optons," Salon.com at: *http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2000/09/18/medical_abortion/index.html* (This may be a temporary posting) "Abortion Issues," Gallup Organization, at: *http://www.gallup.com/poll/indicators/indabortion.asp* Martha Lkeder, "Lawmakers try to protect women from RU-486," Focus on the Family, at: *http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/A0013218.html*
Lader, Lawrence. RU486: The Pill That Could End the Abortion Wars. New York: Addison-Wesley Inc., 1991.
Mary Zimmerman framed that women have not had ultimate control over their own bodies and health as a fundamental assumption underlying women’s health movement. Men control and dominate a huge portion of the of decision making roles in the healthcare field, such as health related research, health policy etc. Whereas women are more seen in social positions. According to the article “The Women’s Health Movement” by Mary K. Zimmerman, the concept of medicalization is the “increasing tendency to apply medical definitions and control to phenomena not previously thought of as medical problems (Zola, 1972; Conrad and Schneider, 1980). In the 1950’s a drug called Thalidomide was created by a German company, claiming that it was safe for pregnant women. Although many women were still using this drug during this time, in 1961, reports began to surface that this drug was causing several birth defects and other health problems. The author presented the Thalidomide case as an example of medicalization by showing us the potential consequences of a style medical
“Pure Food and Drug Act 1906.” 34 U.S. Stats. 768, quoted in Medicine in the Americas, Bethesda, Maryland: National Library of Medicine, 2004. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22116/.
was approved in 1982 and in another form, that is to be taken orally rather than
In 1992 then pharmacist Robert Ray Courtney started diluting medications that were given to patients by injection or infusion. In 1998 a sales representative from one of the drug companies, Darryl Ashley, noted a discrepancy in the amount of drugs Courtney ordered and dispensed. Eli Lilly was notified and investigated how Courtney was supplied the drugs. Finding that he did not go outside their supply chain, Eli Lilly did not pursue the issue any further. However in 2001 Ashley mentioned this in the office of Dr. Verda Hunter who sent samples of the drug in question to a laboratory for testing (Draper, 2003). In July of 2001 a federal investigation begins and on August 15, 2001 Courtney surrenders to the FBI.
Warren, Mary Anne , and Mappes and D. DeGrazia. "On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion." Biomedical Ethics 4th (1996): 434-440. Print.
In the 1950’s, the search was on for a reliable oral contraceptive. Research began based
...ion, scholars in the field are studying other medications to find a more effective one to eradicate the disease,
... become a reality until she met physician Gregory Pincus in 1951. Pincus, a medical expert in human reproduction, was willing to take on this project with her to find a safe, effective, female-controlled contraceptive. They collaborated with their sponsor, Katharine McCormick, to create Enovid, the first oral contraceptive that was invented and approved by the FDA in 1960.
Warren, M. A. (1973) 'On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion', Monist, vol. 57, no. 1.
Wear, Ken. “Abortion: Let's Apply More Reason and Less Emotion to the Public Debate” Wear, Ken, published; Nov. 1999. Paragraph 6, 12/13/09. http://www.rationallink.org/abortion.htm
In the business of drug production over the years, there have been astronomical gains in the technology of pharmaceutical drugs. More and more drugs are being made for diseases and viruses each day, and there are many more drugs still undergoing research and testing. These "miracle" drugs are expensive, however, and many Americans cannot afford these prices.
Carr, Jessica. "Project 6 - Blog Roll." Project 6. Abortion Inhumane, 19 Apr. 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.
Nicholl, David. "Lundbeck and Pentobarbital: Pharma Takes a Stand." The Guardian, July 1, 2011. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jul/01/pentobarbital-lundbeck-execution-drug.