Why You Should Support RU-486

A study of the relationships between
embryology, the abortion issue, and mifepristone

Karawynn Long
May 1992


Most people in America, if they are familiar at all with the drug RU 486, know it as "the abortion pill." With the application of that moniker, the majority of Americans are instantly either predisposed in favor of it or prejudiced against it — no further information needed. Our nation is so polarized over the political, legal, and moral status of abortion that an objective evaluation of this new drug is hardly possible.

Some proponents of RU 486 seek to avoid the sticky issue altogether, by focusing on the many beneficial uses the drug could and does have in non-reproductive areas, for everything from fighting breast cancer to curing endometriosis. It is my feeling, however, that this sort of back-door approach will probably not be effective in getting RU 486 approved in the United States — because first and foremost, this drug is associated with abortion. It seems likely to me that legal entry of RU 486 into this country will ultimately depend upon the willingness of the American populace to accept its use specifically for the interruption of pregnancy.

For this reason I prefer to face the issue of RU 486 head-on — and this means first examining the idea of abortion. As amazing as it may seem, considering all of the media attention and public debate the subject of abortion has received, there is a fair amount of relevant information that is never brought up at all, by either side.

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