Bucking The Pro-Lifers

Roussel Uclaf, French manufacturer of the abortion pill called RU-486, has balked at bringing its controversial product to the U.S., out of fear that it will become the target of protests by the pro-life movement. Now, however, there is growing grass-roots pressure to provide Americans access to the pill, which induces an abortion when taken during the first trimester.

The latest initiative comes from New Hampshire's usually conservative legislature, where the house has passed a bill that would invite Roussel to conduct a trial of the drug in New Hampshire as part of the process of getting it approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Says one supporter, state representative Carmela DiPietro: "I'm a Republican, a Catholic and a mother of six. But what I support above all else is an individual's right to personal choice." Other states looking at similar bills include Minnesota and California. New York City Mayor David Dinkins has sent letters to 33 mayors, urging them to increase pressure on the Bush Administration to foster testing of the pill. And in Washington, Congressman Ron Wyden of Oregon has introduced legislation that would lift FDA restrictions on the import of the drug for personal use.

Kate Michelman, executive director of the National Abortion Rights Action League, calls RU-486, which has been used in France since 1988, "probably the most important advance in reproductive medicine since the birth-control pill." It may also some day help treat such diseases as breast cancer and osteoporosis. But opposition will remain strong. Last month the Vatican released a report to U.S. bishops from a Spanish bioethicist calling the drug a "new serious threat to human life."