Ru 486 Misconceptions Myths and Morals - ressourcesfeministes

Introductiondo not know or do not admit that they are pregnant withinthis brief time period.All these factors prompt larger questions. Does RU 486/PG increase women’s reproductive choices? Many groupshave promoted RU 486/PG as expanded choice for women.Yet in this instance, what is championed as the right to choose,strongly resembles the right to consume. Women areencouraged to become consumers for new technologies anddrugs—for more and more dangerous ones in the case of RU486. The reproductive choices offered are the medicaltechnical-corporateoptions made available. The view ofmany seems to be that as long as women give consent andare informed about selective aspects of the drug, they shouldbe free to take their own risks with drugs and technologiesthat have media support but that we know little about. Wecontend that given the media hype and the lack ofindependent research on RU 486/PG, most women takingthe drug are not informed and consent is relativelymeaningless.In addition to abortion, proposed uses of RU 486 includetreatment for breast cancer, meningioma (brain tumor),glaucoma, dilation of the cervix in labor, thus preventing theneed for a caesarian section, and even the treatment of cancerof the prostate in men. To anyone familiar with the historyof reproductive drugs and technologies used on women, suchas diethylstilbestrol (DES) and estrogen (now hormonal)replacement therapy, these claims have an all-too-wondrousring of promise subsequently turned peril. How many timeshave women been told that this or that drug will save usfrom ourselves?The promotional coverage of RU 486 in the media hasbeen designed to raise public expectations of the drug. Muchof the press coverage—mainstream and feminist—has treatedit as the revolutionary reproductive drug of the century.Moreover, the promise of research and treatment with RU486/PG has capitalized on a common enemy of women’s5