Ru 486 Misconceptions Myths and Morals - ressourcesfeministes

IntroductionUnfortunately, objections to RU 486/PG have largely comefrom anti-abortionists. They have used health and safetyconcerns about RU 486/PG to advance their own campaignagainst women’s right to abortion. They have raised manyof the critical issues regarding the drug in a way that hasdefined the parameters of the debate as ‘us against them’.There is, however, an urgent need for more informed feministdiscussion of RU 486/PG, but not on the terms of the antiabortionists.This discussion has been muted by theproponents’ accusation that any woman who raises objectionsto the drug is playing into the hands of the right wing.Presumably, the recognition that women have independentcritical judgements has been one of the vital legacies of thiswave of feminism. Women have the right to safe and effectiveabortions, but women also have the right to question whetherRU 486/PG fulfills those claims.This report challenges the uncritical promotion of RU 486/PG by women’s groups. The US-based Reproductive HealthTechnologies Project has brought women’s health groups’representatives from, for example, the National Women’sHealth Network and the Federation of Feminist HealthCenters together with officers from the Population CrisisCommittee, Planned Parenthood, and NARAL (NationalAbortion Rights Action League) to serve on an advisoryboard. A major aim of this project has been to promoteeducation supporting and distribution of RU 486/PG in theUnited States.The Feminist Majority has also launched a current majormission to ‘alert the public to the medical benefits of RU486.’ Primarily, it has been responsible for amassingthousands of signatures in a petition drive designed topressure Roussel Uclaf to license and/or distribute the drugin the United States. Their educational packet of articles,mailed to those requesting information on the drug, dependswholly on studies and statements prepared by the drug3